Learn with Lea

I'm finally free!!!!!!!

2011-10-17T06:48:00.000-07:00

After 6 lllllloooooonnnnnnngggggg weeks, I am finally cast free! I would be doing a happy dance (a la Snoopy) but my hand is so sore that yesterday I actually wished it was back on! In the 39 years of my existence, this was the first cast I've ever had. TGIM has had 2 on his leg since we've been married but he had a completely different experience. He went from a cast to a walking boot and 6 weeks of physical therapy while wearing the boot, so he never had that stiffness from lack of use. Plus, he scored a really cool Gor-Tex lining so he could get his cast wet..... no nasty, scaly skin for him! You can be glad that I didn't take pictures of what my thumb looked like immediately after it came off. GROSS!!!!!!

I thought I'd share my different casts with you.

Here's what I woke up from the surgery with. As you can see, my thumb was well protected and my fingers were pretty much useless. It was ok though because whenever I tried to use my hand, moving my fingers pulled on the incision and really made it hurt. Heck, my thumb just plain hurt. It hurt like they sawed the 2 ends of the bones and wired them together. Wait! That is what they did. LOL!

After 2 weeks, I got the big bulky cast off and got this little, "cute" one, which I wore for 34 days (not that I counted every single one of them). I kid you not, people everywhere told me that it was the cutest little cast they had ever seen. At least with this one, I had the use of my fingers. You should have seen me chopping and trying to cook. It was funny and didn't happen often. I'm so very glad I did all that precooking. It was needed! And while I thought I did great, I made one major mistake. I made a bunch of things that needed bread items, tortillas, buns etc. I didn't think to make those and freeze them. So, we had to eat store bought baked goods. Next time I'll know. Not that there should be a next time!

And finally, here is my brand new thumb! It's extremely stiff and sore (but not swollen, that's how it's going to look forever now) but the surgery was a complete success! The bones have fused nicely and there is no pain in the actual joint. There still is a little dead skin but it's 1000000 times better than when the cast came off.

Very soon, I'll share with you some new goodies and recipes. I had googled "skin care after cast removal" and it said to soak and gently exfoliate and then use fragrance free lotion. Conveniently, I had just ordered (and it arrived 2 days before) some supplies to make my own hand cream. It's super easy and cheap! So maybe next week, when my hand is stronger I'll show you how to do it. Silly me, I thought that my cast would come off and I'd be ready to go. Shows you how much I didn't know!

How to cut an onion and a little hiatus

2011-08-29T07:00:00.000-07:00

Just so my 2 readers know that I have not dropped off the face of the Earth, I wanted to let you know that I'm having hand surgery on Wed and won't be able to type for about 6 weeks. My surgery wasn't unexpected. It was scheduled for the end of September and I had lots of plans for posts as I had planned lots of freezer cooking. Last Monday I spent the day cooking. It was my birthday and I decided I was going to do what I wanted to do, and that was get a jump start on cooking meals for the family while I was recovering. TGIM insisted that he could handle dinner, but I didn't want to have to eat pasta and/or take out every night. Plus, when he goes back to work (he really can't take 5 weeks off) he doesn't get home until 6pm, that's way too late for dinner to be STARTING! Anyway, TGIM thought I was crazy for starting already, after all my surgery was another month away. One thing you need to know about me is generally, I am not a procrastinator, you just never know what's going to happen. If I have a free minute or day, I'll get a jump on something for the future. Not 3 hours after he told me I was nuts the doctor's office called and said they could get me in next week if I wanted. Oh man did I want! Ever since then, I've been on this mad quest to fill the freezer, and I sure have! The one thing I didn't do was to take pictures to blog about things. I just didn't have the time. I was spending a solid 8-10 hours a day in the kitchen.

Thankfully my girlfriend, Andrea, was on board with bulk cooking some breakfasts and lunches so we got together this weekend and made our own version of Hot Pockets for our respective husbands and children. They were so good and we figured they cost us $.50 each to make, plus we can say every ingredients in them! There are more things that I want to show you how to make and I totally will when I'm recovered. Andrea and I plan to keep our version of hot pockets around as a staple.

I will leave you with this, how to chop an onion. It's really easy and generally you can do it in less time than it takes to get out those whacker thingies. And washing a knife is much faster and easier than one of those whacker things.

First, cut your onion in half from tip to root.

Chop off the tip

Peel it (and forget to take a picture). Then make vertical slices being careful not to cut all the way to the root. You don't want the slices falling apart.

Rotate 90 degrees and then slice down

Now you've got some nice chopped onions. If you're most people, you're done.

You see these big pieces? They bug me.

To avoid that, before you make your vertical slices, do some horizontal ones. Then continue as before

No more big pieces!

Super easy, anyone can do it. Except Andrea who had to leave the room when I was chopping. Here's a little tip, if in your meal planning you're going to be using a lot of chopped onions, do them all at once and keep them in a glass container in the fridge. It makes life so much easier to have things prepped.

Flour Tortillas

2011-08-23T07:10:00.000-07:00

TGIM loves a good corn torilla, so I learned how to make them. He's a lucky man isn't he? ha ha ha. Personally, I would much rather have a flour tortilla. I love a good thick, chewy flour tortilla. Honestly, so does TGIM. On the rare occasion when he's home AND inside while I'm making them it goes something like this. Cook tortilla, TGIM eats tortilla. Cook 2nd tortilla, put in warmer. Cook 3rd tortilla, TGIM eats it. Cook 4th tortilla, put in warmer. This will pretty much go on until I start screaming at him and brandishing my rolling pin as a weapon. The thing is crazy heavy and TGIM's is a little scared that I might do some damage if I manage to connect. What he doesn't realize is that with the astronomical price I paid for it (I was at a Vendor Fair and it's hand made in my town from wood from 4 continents, it's magnificent) I would never actually harm it.

Flour Tortillas from Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone

Here's what you need - flour, oil, salt, baking powder and milk.

Add 2 cups flour to your bowl

1 1/2 tsp baking powder

1 tsp salt

give that a mix

now drizzle 2 tsp oil over the flour mixture

like this. Don't dump it all in one spot.

give that a mix too.

The recipe calls for either milk or water but when you use milk, magic happens.

Mix that up into a sticky dough.

Then turn it to your floured counter to knead

knead it for a few minutes. It should feel like the tip of your ear.

and form a nice ball

cover it with plastic wrap and let it set for 30 minutes to relax the gluten

if you don't have one of these Terra Cotta warmers, go to White Sands National Monument and get one! Just kidding, you can get them anywhere. You put it in your hot oven for 15 minutes and then in the bottom of your basket to keep the tortillas warm.

Divide the dough into 8 pieces. What I do is divide the dough in half (top left). Then take 1 half the dough (top right) and divide that in half (bottom). If you do it that way, you should end up with 8 equal sized pieces of dough.

roll it into a little ball and then place on your floured counter and roll out until about 1/4 inch thick.

You know they're homemade when they're not a perfect circle.

it's thin and pliable. Place it on your cast iron skillet or comal

You can see how it's puffing up. After about 40 seconds, flip it over

Cook the 2nd side for 30 - 60 seconds.

Put them in your basket or plate (my warmer is under the towel) and serve warm

If it looks like this, your comal is too hot.

Salsa Verde Carnitas

2011-08-16T06:38:00.000-07:00

So we've made Salsa Verde and Corn Tortillas, what do we do with them? Just kidding, I know you know what to do with them. Today we're going to make Salsa Verde Carnitas. Carnitas literally means "little meats" and is traditionally braised pork butt (it's really the shoulder and not the actual butt). After it's braised and shredded with forks it is roasted to crisp up the outside while the inside stays oh so tender.

The ingredients are few (just how I like it) Pork butt (3ish pounds), salsa verde, chicken stock, an onion, cumin, and oregano

Chop up the onion

Toss it into a large pot or dutch oven.

Trim the big pieces of fat off the pork. Yes there's still that large spot but it was in the middle so I got it out later

Place it in the pot on top of the onion

2 cups of chicken stock

2 cups of Salsa Verde

1 Tbl cumin

1 tsp oregano

bring it to a boil and then cover and simmer 3-6 hours until you can shred it with 2 forks

It's going to look like this when it's done.

Next you want to skim the fat off the sauce and bring it to a boil to kill all the yucky stuff. Reduce it by half.

Shred the pork onto a baking sheet and place in a 400 degree oven for about 30 minutes

until it is nice and crispy on the edges

go ahead and try a piece right now. It's just too yummy to pass up.

spoon some of the sauce over the carnitas

try another piece, you want to make sure it tastes right. You wouldn't want to serve a subpar meal to anyone, right?

Eat up in your favorite dish. Here I made a taco with a little cilantro, onion and sour cream. The next day we had some carnitas quesadillas for lunch.

Homemade Corn Tortillas

2011-08-14T08:27:00.000-07:00

A few months ago I went to Chicago to visit a good friend of mine. She loves to cook as much as I do and we spent several days in her kitchen cooking, enjoying a cocktail or 3 and listening to our "cooking music." All in all, a wonderful few days. When it was my turn to cook, we had what we affectionately referred to as.... Mexican Monday. We spent all day in the kitchen cooking various Mexican dishes that she wanted to learn to make. We made Red Chile Sauce and Salsa Verde, Albondigas, Guisado de Chile Verde (green chile stew), Chile Colorado, Sour Cream Chicken Enchiladas and Tortillas. With all the yummy food we made, you want to know what the big hit was???? The homemade tortillas. TGIM wasn't surprised at all when I told him. He thinks there are few things better than homemade tortillas. While in Chicago we made flour ones (we'll get to those soon) I'm going to show you how to make corn tortillas.

Here's what you need. Masa Harina, salt and water. What is Masa Harina you ask? Literally translated it means "dough flour." The corn is soaked in lime before it's dried and ground into a flour. This is what you use to make corn torillas, tamales, and other dishes. Generally you can find it in the grocery store.

You need 2 cups of masa harina

and a pinch of salt

Then slowly add 1.5 cups of water to the bowl. The child in the background playing with the tortilla press is optional.

Mix it until it's firm yet springy. If its too wet, add a little more masa, if too dry more water. I know it's hard to tell what too wet/dry is. You're going to have to test it

It should look like this. Let it rest for 30 minutes or an hour if you have to referee screaming children.

Line your tortilla press with wax paper. You don't actually NEED a press, a rolling pin will work fine. I just couldn't resist a pink tortilla press. It was less that $20 from the Mexican Grocery store.

Grab a golf ball size piece of dough. Roll it into a ball. Forget to take a picture of that.

Place it on your tortilla press. You REALLY need the wax paper or it will stick.

Give up and let children push the press. It's just easier to let them do it. For the purposes of this blog, this is Robin, as in Robin Hood. He and his little brother are obsessed with Robin Hood and run around most of the day stealing from the tax collectors. At least they have imaginations, right????

Here's Little John, shoving his face in front of the camera.

When you open the press, you'll have this little beauty! Carefully peel the wax paper from the top and then lay it across your hand.

and peel the other piece of wax paper off. Replace the wax paper on the press.

I use a comal which is pretty much a cast iron skillet without sides. If you don't have one, you can use a skillet. Although if you're going to make tortillas a lot, or quesadillas, grilled cheese etc. I suggest you invest in one. This one is mine via marriage, TGIM brought it to the relationship, but I've taken it over. Cook them on a hot UNOILED comal/skillet for about a minute on each side and either eat immediately, or wrap them up and reheat when you're ready.

This made 19 tortillas.

We had chicken tacos a la King Taco. Just some chicken, onions, cilantro and salsa verde. I did add a dollop of sour cream. After all, even though I have a Hispanic last name, I'm not actually Mexican. LOL! TGIM said these tacos were almost as good as King Taco. If you've ever been to Los Angeles and had one, you know what he's saying. If you haven't, I suggest you get one ASAP!

My Essential Kitchen Tools

2011-08-13T04:19:00.000-07:00

Another topic of discussion is my essential kitchen tools list. Of course I have the standard measuring cups and spoons, whisk, spatula, wooden spoon, ladle, graters etc there are a few things I can't live without and use almost daily. Here they are in no random order....

My mixer. I love this mixer. TGIM LOVES this mixer. In fact, he told me last week (after the Rosemary bread) that of all the things he's bought me for the kitchen, this was by far his best investment. While many of you might not need one this big, it was on sale and worth every extra penny. It's got a 6 quart mixing bowl for my large batches of dough making. It's awsome. So awsome I'm tempted to get another one to have in reserve.

My cast iron skillet. This skillet was my beloved poppa's skillet. This thing is almost as old as my mom and well when I was in kindergarten (200 years ago) she was 106 years old. You get the picture. Seriously this thing is something like 50+ years old and I use it all the time.

My 4 quart All-Clad Saute pan. Oh how I love my All-Clad pots and pans. I love them all but this one hands down is my favorite. I can put a whole cut up chicken in this thing, brown it on the stove and then stick it in the oven to finish. Remember the other day when I said everyone needs a pan that can go in the stove????? Also, I only have a few pots and pans. You really don't need a lot of them. I have this All-Clad set and it's pretty much all I need. I still have a few (3) random pots from before I got my All-Clad. I know it's pricey but is worth every penny. This stuff is so sturdy, distributes heat perfectly and most of all is made in the USA. I want to be buried with my All-Clad but somehow I think one of the boys will pry them out of my cold dead hands.

My Pampered Chef pizza stone. I really love the Pampered Chef stoneware. In fact, I have almost every piece they have but pretty much use this one almost every day. I bake most of my breads (boules, batards, couronnes) on it since there are no sides and I can just slide the loaf on it.

The other 3 pieces of stoneware I use all the time is the loaf pan (again I don't buy bread from a store so I bake a lot of bread, almost a loaf a day), rectangle baker and deep dish covered baker. The deep dish baker can hold a whole chicken and it comes out superb.

My Wusthof Chef knife. I have a set of knifes and pretty much only use 3 of them, my chef's knife, a small knife for boning and paring, and a bread knife. I also love this cutting board. It's large and has a groove on the edge to catch all the juice from whatever I'm cutting up. The other side has a well for carving meats. The well catches all the juice from the meat.

My blender and food processor. You "really" don't need both but there are times when it's nice. My rolling pin, or should I say TGIM's rolling pin. There's a story behind it that I won't get into now, but I love this rolling pin. And that pink thing on top is a tortilla press. I don't use it a lot but it's handy when I make tortillas.

Stainless Steel mixing bowls. I have a lot of bowls as you will see below, but a good set of metal ones are a necessity. They don't have to be as fancy as these Pampered Chef ones. Yes I have a lot of Pampered Chef stuff, at one point I had 4 friends that were consultants so I spent lots of money being a good friend. These have an ergonomic thumb grip so you really get a good hold while you're mixing. They also have a slip resistant bottom.

Here's what in my small island cabinet. Mainly my bowls (the plastic ones are for holding all the stuff I'm canning) and stoneware.

Here are all my pots and pans. My large stockpot is being used right now. That empty space on the top right shelf is where it goes.

This also is by no means everything I have in my kitchen, just the things I can't live without. Here's a list of essentials from Cooks Illustrated I found on line.

Save money, save time - Meal Plan!

2011-08-12T04:38:00.000-07:00

Oh my gosh! TGIM is going to be home in 10 minutes, he's going to be starving and I have no idea what we're having for dinner! I used to say that a lot.

Oh crap! The green beans (or whatever vegetable) are moldy. I used to say that a lot too.

How the heck did our grocery bill get this high? You guessed it, I said that a lot too.

How did I stop saying all the above? Meal planning! Not only does meal planning save time, and money it helps you plan/build a well balanced meal. There are many ways to go about meal planning and what works for me may not (and probably won't) work for you, but I thought I'd share some tips with you.

Most people plan anywhere from 1 week to 1 month. I do 1 week. This is because we subscribe to a weekly produce co-op that we pick up on Saturdays. They usually post the contents 3 or 4 days in advance so we know what we're getting. Usually on Wednesdays I sit down and plan for the following week. During the school year, Thurs are my shopping days but right now TGIM generally picks up the few things I need because he meets his vanpool in the grocery store parking lot.

Some people have high tech spreadsheets and meal planner sites they use. Not me. I have a lovely composition book that a good friend of mine altered (decorated) and gave me. I use that to plan my meals. It's easy and works well for me.

Although I'm fairly organized in life (I did NOT clean up the cabinets for the pictures in past posts, that's how the always look) I'm not so strict with my meals. Just because it says on Monday we're having grilled chicken and Wednesday we're having Chile Verde, sometimes I switch it around, as long as I still make the things on the list.

On Saturday we're getting - watermelon, green beans, jalapenos, lettuce, sweet peppers, potatoes, sorrel, tomatoes, cucumbers, and summer squash. Recently we purchased 1/4 side of beef so I've got plenty of beef in the freezer and I pretty much always have some chicken in there. One of Grimway Farms organic farm sites is literally a mile away from my house and during the summer they have an organic produce stand where we can get fresh, local, organic produce for really reasonable prices

Here's what my meal plan for next week looks like

Sat 8/13 - green chile hamburgers, grilled sweet peppers and summer squash (the day before we're having chile verde stew so I'm saving some of the chile verde for my burger.
Sun 8/14 - spaghetti and meatballs. It's Robin's (my older son) birthday and his current favorite meal
Mon 8/15 - Steak Salad (using the lettuce, cucumber and tomatoes)
Tues 8/16 - Grilled chicken with quinoa risotto (using carrots and spinach from the Stand)
Wed 8/17 - Roast chicken with sorrel and onions and potatoes (the onions are leftover from last week)
Thurs 8/18 - potstickers, sesame green beans and ramen noodles
Fri 8/19 - quinoa cakes, cucumber salad and tomato zucchini gratin (cucumbers and tomatoes from the basket and zucchini from the garden

Lots of times I'll "cook once, eat twice" but I didn't do so well with that this week, except for cooking extra quinoa on Tuesday for the quinoa cakes on Friday. I'm hoping we'll have some leftover roast chicken and I can make soup or enchiladas from the leftovers. It used to be that I could get 3 meals off 1 chicken but the boys have discovered chicken and love it. I will make stock out of the carcass though. And TGIM will get lunch the next day.

That's pretty much it in a nutshell. If you have any meal planning tips, I'd love to hear them.

How to have a well stocked pantry

2011-08-11T04:33:00.000-07:00

I've had numerous requests about the contents of my pantry. Ok, actually only one person has inquired about the contents of my pantry, but she's done it several times! So I thought I'd take a few pictures and tell you about them. You might not need or want the things that I do and that's fine, it's all about what you like and want. A well stocked pantry is essential. With the right essentials you can whip up a meal in no time at all. Plus, having the essentials in your cabinet will save you money. How many times have you run to the store for 1 thing and come out with 10? TGIM does it every time I send him. LOL!

For me, I always have pasta/noodles and several different varieties i.e Penne, Rigatoni, Spaghetti, Soba, Rice Sticks. I also always have Mac and Cheese for my boys. What can I say, they are 4 and 6. I also have tomato sauce and paste because that's just more convenient than making my own. The one thing you will notice is there are no commercially canned foods in my pantry. We don't eat canned foods (except the last few cans of olives, then I'll get them in glass jars) because there is bpa in the linings. I'm not going to preach to you about the evils of bpa. You can google it yourself.

I always have different typs of beans (pinto, black, garbanzo, kidney etc.) rice (wild, brown, white) and lentils and whole grains (quinoa, barley)

The bottom shelf in the picture (the real bottom shelf currently has some empty canning jars) has various bbq sauces, hot sauces, jams and jellys, green chile peppers and things like that.

This is my "spice" cabinet. It has my various herbs, spices, oils and vinegars

And my baking cabinet with flours, extracts, nuts etc. It also has my coffee because my coffee maker is underneath this cabinet and it's just easier this way.

My kitchen doesn't have a lot of space for the stockpile of foods I had after I started canning so TGIM went to Ikea and got me this cabinet. In here are my canned tomatoes, salsas, pickles and stock (chicken, beef and turkey)

Some things I use a lot of like flour (whole wheat and all-purpose), rice, quinoa, sugar. Those I have on this little shelf in the cabinet TGIM got me.

For a printable list of what I use most often click here. Remember that you don't have to go out and purchase everything on the list at once, or ever. These are what I use most and generally always have on hand. It's by no means comprehensive of what other things may randomly be in my pantry, just what normally is.

I didn't even go into what's in my fridge and freezer. I'll save that for another time.

Crispy Chicken Thighs

2011-08-10T04:46:00.000-07:00

When I was first learning how to cook I'd bug Sister Chef constantly with...."how do you make....?" questions. Finally she told me if you like garlic, use garlic! If you like rosemary, use rosemary! I think she was a little annoyed. The funny thing is now if someone asks me how I did something, my usual response is.... I threw in a little of this and a little of that. Man, turnaround is fair play and all that, right? One of the reasons I started posting recipes and how I do things is for a certain friend (or two) of mine who wanted more detail on how to do things. So here goes something I just messed around with using things in my fridge and pantry.

Chicken thighs (I've recently discovered the joys of chicken thighs), panko flakes, lemon, rosemary, Parmesan and the "needs for breading the thighs.

I put some panko flakes in a bowl, maybe about 1/2 cup. I didn't measure.

I minced up some rosemary and added that to the panko

sprinkled in some Parmesan

and some lemon zest

some salt and pepper

in a separate bowl I put 1 egg

and the juice of half a lemon

gave that a little mix

put some olive oil in my cast iron skillet

Then added some of this Watkins Liquid Spice Garlic.

Got a little frustrated because it only comes out by the drop and I swear I could bathe in it. It's that stinking good!

take one of your lovely chicken thighs

and dip it in the egg wash

then roll it around in your seasoned panko flakes

add it to your hot skillet to brown

as you can see, I ran out of breading, oops. I guess I should have used more.

At first I was just going to cook them on the stove top but I had something in the oven so I decided to just brown them on the stove and finish them in the oven. A little tip, you should have a few pots/pans that can go in the oven... meaning no plastic handles. It saves a lot of time and cleanup.

This is what they looked like when they were done. They were crispy yet not greasy and had just enough "something" in the breading to be yummy different.

Tomato Zucchini Gratin

2011-08-09T06:36:00.000-07:00

When we were in San Diego last week, TGIM's uncle gave me a huge zucchini from his garden. While I like zucchini, I don't LOVE it. In fact, I have few recipes for it and half the time I wind up giving them away. My absolute favorite food blog is Proud Italian Cook and she's ALWAYS got fabulous recipes and tons of zucchini recipes. So I decided to go browse her site and found this. I didn't have any fresh cherry tomatoes but I did still have a few jars of grape tomatoes I canned last year and they needed to be used.

I adapted her recipe to suit our (and I mean TGIMs) needs. There's no "real" recipe so I just took pictures of the steps I did.

Slice up some sweet onion and zucchini

Layer the onion in your pan and drizzle with olive oil.

Layer the zucchini and then some tomatoes.

Add some of that "green cheese" from a can. TGIM doesn't like melted cheese except on pizza. Really? It doesn't make sense to me either. Good thing he's cute. LOL!

I decided to sprinkle a little salt and black pepper on this layer. I should have added the panko flakes for added crunch.

Repeat the layers. I wound up with 2 layers of each

On my top layer, I drizzled a little more olive oil.

Then added some panko flakes

I added more onions on top (mainly because I didn't use them all in the layers and they burned) and baked it in at 425 for about 35 minutes.

It was super yummy and between TGIM and I, we ate the whole thing.

Can You Can It?

2011-08-05T09:21:00.000-07:00

The Garden of Eating.I just stumbled upon this blog, The Garden of Eating.

She's having a canning contest on her blog and I just entered my Salsa Verde.
Last year I started canning and although it can be a lot of work, my family reaps the rewards during the winter. Of course, it doesn't have to be the all consuming task I make it out to be, but I do a crazy amount of canning.

This year, my goal is 60 quarts of tomatoes. Currently I have 18. Every week I'm getting 20 - 40 pounds (20 pounds is approximately 1 canner load of 7 quarts) of organic tomatoes. Why in the world would I want to can that many? Well, it's got to last me all winter long. With all the canning I do in the Summer/Autumn, our grocery list in the Winter/Spring is tiny. Pretty much dairy stuff and a few misc produce items. And flour, always need flour!

Anyway, when she opens up the contest for voting, hop on over there and vote for me! And start canning, you won't regret it. he he he

Oh the joy!

2011-08-04T06:21:00.000-07:00

This year, TGIM and I decided to try our hand at gardening. TGIM's friend is cleaning up his yard and had this wood and 2 arbor trellis things laying around and gave them to us for our garden. TGIM made 3 of the 5 garden boxes you see with that wood. We decided to do raised beds because the "dirt" here is more like concrete and to be honest, neither one of us had the desire to till it. We thought raised beds would be easier. Plus I like the look of them. AND when 2 small boys decided to help garden, it's easier to direct them to weeds and not my precious beauties.

Here is what the garden looks like from the gate. That gigantic thing in the front left box, the one that's pretty much taking over everything is a spaghetti squash. Next year it's NOT going in that box! The box behind it is entirely dedicated to peppers. Yeah, some people might think that's a lot but I'm not sure it's going to be enough.

This is what I can't wait for. Any guesses what it is???? A Tomatillo! I planted 3 tomatillo plants and 2 are going crazy with fruits. Sadly, I decided that the 3rd one needed a stake and I think I did some serious damage to the roots. It's hanging on, but a few of the branches are dead. As you might remember from a post not too long ago, this family is salsa verde fanatics. Here's hoping for even more salsa to can.

No, this is what I can't wait for, Anaheim peppers. I'm a pepper, he's a pepper, she's a pepper if you eat lots of peppers.... oh it's early and I've only had 2 sips of my morning coffee.

REALLY, this is what I can't wait for. Don't get me wrong, I love everything I planted in my garden. Really, why wouldn't I? I had total control over it so I got to plant the things that I wanted. TGIM made requests but sadly there was no room for yucky radishes. he he he

Every morning and honestly most afternoon I go and check this little guy for the beginnings of fruit. What can I say? I'm obsessed with my garden and especially this. All my other pepper plants (and there are 15 others) have fruits on them. Larger fruits. In fact, I've even picked some of them already. This guy is giving me fits though. FINALLY two days ago I saw that little, beautiful, green bud. This my friends is a teeny-tiny poblano. It's my favorite pepper. It just might be the supreme ruler of peppers. I cannot describe my love for this pepper. Hold on to your hats folks because when this baby is ready, we're going to have some serious poblano fun.

Rosemary bread

2011-08-03T07:30:00.000-07:00

One of my best friends asked me to do a post on rosemary bread. Never one to say no, I started my Internet search for the perfect bread. Oh did I ever find it! The Food Network rarely fails me. This bread is soft, chewy, moist and has a delightful rosemaryness (is that a word???) without being too overpowering. And I can't forget a magnificent salty top! TGIM isn't a fan of rosemary but somehow he managed to eat almost 2 loaves.

Recipe from The Food Network.

Here's what you need.... flour, sugar, salt, olive oil, yeast, water, and fresh rosemary.

Stir 1 1/4 tsp (or 1 packet if that's what you use) 2 tsp sugar and 1/4 c warm water in your mixer bowl. Or in a regular bowl if you're going to hand mix/knead your bread.

Let that sit for about 5 minutes to get nice and foamy. Meanwhile chop up 2 Tbl fresh rosemary.

Add 1 Tbl olive oil to your yeast/sugar/water mixture

Add to that 2 1/2 cups of flour.

Then add 1 1/2 Tbl rosemary

Already this smells wonderful

Add 1 Tsp salt. The recipe says to add fine salt but I don't have any so I used kosher and it was just fine.

Lastly, add 3/4 cup warm water

With your dough hook, stir until a dough forms

like this

Then knead for a few more minutes (about 5) until the dough is smooth and doesn't stick to the side of your bowl. See all those lovely bits of rosemary? My mouth is watering already.

Here's where I forgot the camera. Oil a metal bowl and add the dough. Cover with plastic wrap and let rise for 2 hours, until doubled. Punch down and divide into 4 equal balls. Form each ball into a loaf and place on a greased baking sheet.

Let rise uncovered on the baking sheet until each loaf has doubled, another 2 hours

Preheat the oven to 400 and bake the loaves for about 10 minutes, brush with olive oil and sprinkle the remaining rosemary and some kosher salt on top. Continue baking another 7-10 minutes.

And you will have this!

At first I wasn't going to post this recipe because I forgot to take pictures of a few of the steps AND the pictures that I did take aren't that great. The lighting in my kitchen stinks and I have stuff everywhere. Then I thought.... I'm not The Pioneer Woman, who by the way I love love love, and my pictures don't have to be perfect. They're here to give you an idea of how the process looks, not so much to entice you into making whatever it is that I've posted. I figure if you're here reading, you actually might want to make this bread no matter what my pictures look like. Don't let my poor photographs stop you! Enjoy your time in the kitchen.

Crockpot Yogurt

2011-07-29T07:07:00.000-07:00

Yes I realize that crockpot yogurt sounds gross but it's not. It's not hard, you can do it in your sleep and it tastes like no other. Other good reasons to make your own yogurt is that it's cheaper and you can control the ingredients. I'm big on the last one and would still do it even if it wasn't cheaper. Our family eats a lot of yogurt and I do mean a lot! My youngest, AJ would seriously eat yogurt all day every day. Since I don't buy foods with chemicals or additives or preservatives or anything I can't pronounce, the yogurt I buy is expensive. Plus, sometimes I can't get it at my local grocery store.

I had no idea that you could even make yogurt at home until one day I was chatting with Sister Chef and telling her about my breadmaking. She then told me how she had been making her own yogurt. WHAT??? You can do that? It took me about a month, but I was all over that. She bought a yogurt machine to incubate hers in but it doesn't hold a lot which is fine for her since it's just her. I needed to make larger batches so I started scouring the Internet to see how I could do it. After reading eleventy billion (yes that's a real number in my house) sites I finally came up with something I could do.

Here's what you need..... a crockpot. If you have one with a built in thermometer that's perfect, if yours doesn't, like mine, you'll need a thermometer. You also need milk, this recipe will use half gallon but you can increase/decrease as desired. I've had the best luck with 2% but have used non fat and it works fine. You also need a cup of plain yogurt with live cultures. You can buy a little container at the store or save a little from your last batch.

Heat the milk until it reaches 180 degrees. You want to kill off the nasty things but not the good stuff. Then cool it to 110 - 115 degrees. This is the optimal temperature for those little enzymes to get to work.

When your milk has cooled to 110, put a 1/2 cup of your plain yogurt to a bowl.

Add a cup of the warmed milk

Give it a stir.

Until it's nice and blended.

Add the yogurt/milk mixture back into the crockpot.

Give that a stir. (never fails, I always get a sideways picture or 3)

Then let it sit for 5-7 hours. You need to keep the temperature around 110 degrees. I wrapped my crockpot in a towel and after 2 hours I turned it on for 5 minutes and then back off. I've heard of people putting the crock in the oven with the light on, or leaving it on the counter overnight. (see you can do it in your sleep!)

When you open the lid you'll be delighted to find this! Don't worry about that liquid stuff you see. That's the whey. You can stir it into your yogurt OR

You can put it in a strainer and strain some of the whey out and make greek style yogurt. Greek style is our preferred yogurt and is even more expensive than regular. (don't toss your whey you can do lots of stuff with it. I use it in my breadmaking instead of water. Whey has a lot of protein in it. It also has the lactose, so don't use it if you have an intolerance. Put your yogurt in a container and back in the fridge to chill.

The next morning (or sooner if you like warm yogurt) you have a delicious and nutritious breakfast. I spooned a little homemade vanilla syrup over it and added a few organic boysenberries. Don't worry about that little black spot in my yogurt, it's a piece of vanilla bean scraping. It was delicious.

Red Chile Sauce aka Chile Colorado

2011-07-28T04:05:00.000-07:00

TGIM was on a special project for his job and it took us to Las Cruces, New Mexico for about a year. Chile's are serious business in New Mexico and New Mexico Mexican cooking is different than other regions. Personally, it's my favorite way to eat Mexican. There is a very heavy chile influence, perfect for the chile lover that I am. I could ramble on for hours about chiles, the different types of chiles, debate the use of the word chile vs chili (quick difference is that chile is a sauce made from either red or green chiles and chili is a stew with meat and and beans) Traditionally you never NEVER put tomatoes in your red chile sauce. I mean NEVER!!!!!!!! If you can't handle the heat of the chile, try a dollop of sour cream on your dish to help smooth out the heat.

Here's a quick and easy red chile sauce. It's so stinking easy and good that you'll never buy that canned stuff again. Of course you shouldn't eat canned food because there's all that bpa in the linings of the cans, again another post.

You're going to need some dried chiles. These are California Chiles. You can also use guajillo (wa-Hee-yo) chiles. This was a 16 oz bag and I used half for a "double" batch. Red Chile sauce freezes well so go ahead and do the whole thing if it suits you.

Put them in a pot or a metal bowl and cover them with boiling water to soften.

Make sure you get them all in the water. You want them soft and pliable. It takes about 10 minutes.

The rest of the stuff.... garlic, cumin and salt

After your chiles are soft, pull out the stem and seeds. You don't have to get them all but the majority of the heat is in the seeds.

toss them in the blender

Add 2 cloves of garlic

a tsp of salt

and a tsp of cumin

cover with 2 1/2 cups of water.

blend until smooth. There are still going to be little chunks of skin and seeds. Don't worry.

because you're going to strain them out.

Pour the sauce into a strainer over a pot. I used a glass dish so you could see.

You're going to need to work it a bit to get all the liquid out.

You should end up with something like this, some skin and seed. Toss that into your compost or trash.

After you get all the sauce strained and into the pot (you may need to strain it in batches if you have a lot) bring it to a boil and then turn off the heat. That my friends is it. You're done.

Now you have your basic red chile sauce. You can make enchiladas, carne adovado (marinated roast pork), chile colorado or anything that calls for red sauce.

Fresh Thai Spring Rolls

2011-07-27T04:36:00.000-07:00

There is nothing more tasty that fresh spring rolls. Oh how I love them and they were just one more thing that I never ate much because I didn't know how to make them. Yeah that and the fact that I can't get half the ingredients at home. San Diego on the other hand has tons of Asian Markets and I was able to get a few pantry staples.

Hold onto your hats because this is a long post. I'll try and arrange it in simple, logical steps. First you make a sauce, then you get your veggies/protein (if using) ready, then assemble your rolls

For the sauce you need.... soy sauce, rice vinegar, fish sauce and sugar (oops forgot that in the picture)

In a small bowl add 2 Tbl soy sauce

1 Tbl Rice Vinegar

1 Tbl Fish Sauce

1 tsp sugar

Give that a mix until the sugar is dissolved

Grab some bean threads. There are 3 "bundles" in the pack. I only used 1.

Put them in a bowl and cover them with hot water until they're soft.

like this

Next your filling. I used some thinly sliced precooked chicken, bean sprouts, grated carrot, chopped green onion, cilantro and basil. My little prep bowls hold 1 cup. Spring Rolls are very forgiving and you can pretty much put anything in them you want. Have fun.

If you're the sort of person that needs measurements..... add 1 cup bean sprouts to the bowl with the bean threads

3/4 cup thinly sliced cooked chicken. Mine is boiled but you could use roasted.

1/2 cup chopped fresh basil

1/2 cup chopped fresh cilantro

1 cup grated carrot

1 cup chopped green onion

Mix the filling and pour the sauce over it

Mix it all together. You really want everything incorporated otherwise you'll get some rolls with mainly bean sprouts and some with mainly basil, etc. You get the picture.

Now get a bowl of hot water and place a rice paper wrapper in it to soften. Sorry I forgot to take a picture of what I used. The package will say "Fresh Spring Roll Wrappers" or something to that affect.

Place your softened wrapper on a clean surface. Put in some filling. How much depends on how full you want your roll to be. You do want to put it toward the bottom (the end closest to you).

Fold the bottom and edges in tightly and roll to the top. You may need to use a little water to seal them. Now if only TGIM hadn't gobbled them up as I was rolling them I could have had a picture for you.

Manage to get one on your plate before they're all gone. Serve with your favorite dipping sauce. Mine is Sweet Chili Sauce and you'd totally be able to see if if I hadn't used a red plate.

Egg Drop Soup

2011-07-26T06:23:00.000-07:00

Hey my two readers, did you miss me? We snuck down to San Diego for the weekend to visit the grandparents so I didn't do much or any cooking for a few days. It was nice. One of the main reasons I cook so much at home is there is a definite lack of good restaurants in my town. Plus, living 15-20 miles away from said restaurants, it's a commitment to go to one. While there are a few restaurants that we like to go to, there is not a good Chinese one. TGIM wanted some Asian food recently so I decided to give it a try. Since I knew he'd be starving when he walked in the door (and he had to stop at the store for a key ingredient so dinner wasn't going to be ready when he got home) I decided to make up a pot of Egg Drop Soup. Had I know how ridiculously easy it was I would have been making this all the time.

Here's what you need.... chicken or veggie stock, soy sauce, corn starch, some green onion, eggs, ginger and totally optional but I had some on hand, mushrooms.

First, put your stock in the pot. Save about 1/2 cup for later. Then add your minced ginger.

Rough chop a few mushrooms. I only used about 4.

Add them to the pot

Then your chopped green onions

and about a Tbl of Soy Sauce.

With that 1/2 cup of reserved stock add a Tbl of corn starch. This will thicken the soup a little.

Mix it up until the corn starch is dissolved

Add it to the soup and then bring the soup to a boil.

While you're waiting for the soup to boil, add an egg or two into a dish. Then sideways beat it up. Or don't do it sideways and wonder why every time you take pictures of the process, one turns on its side and there's no way in blogger to rotate a picture.

After the soup is boiling, reduce the heat to a simmer. Slowly pour in the egg mixture while stirring the soup. The egg naturally spreads into these lovely ribbons. If I was an octopus, I could have taken pictures while I was pouring and stirring, but I'm not so you're going to have to figure it out on your own.

Add a little extra green onion for a garnish and serve it immediately.

TGIM thought it was better than any restaurant soup he's had. I almost agreed. I thought it needed some salt. Then I realized that I did use homemade stock with no salt and reduced sodium soy sauce. That was probably why it needed some. I added a teeny bit and it was perfect.

Spaghetti and Meatballs

2011-07-22T04:59:00.000-07:00

There are about 50 million spaghetti and meatballs recipes on the internet. Google it and see. Not only are there differing opinions of what the meatball should contain, there are several schools of though on how you should cook them. Some bake the meatballs, some simmer them all day in sauce, some saute them and add them later in the process. Seriously, the first time I made them I sat at the computer for over an hour looking at recipes. I've now made them several times and this is how my family prefers them. Of course, don't blindly follow me.... you can sit for hours looking at recipes if you really want.

The biggest thing for me is the meat. You gotta get good stuff. TGIM and I recently purchased 1/4 side of beef. It's 100% grass fed, no hormones, humanely treated and all magically delicious. In fact, TGIM went to the farm to pick it up and he thought the cows looked happy in the pasture. Little did they know soon they were going to make someone very happy. Again I'll save the whys of grass fed for another post.

Here's what you need..... ground beef, seasonings, an egg or two, and panko flakes. Personally, I do not want meatloaf in a ball in my spaghetti. I really want the flavors of the meat to shine so I use just a few seasonings. In fact, my favorite is Watkin's brand Garlic Peppercorn blend. It's the perfect blend of garlic, pepper corns, salt, oregano and parsley. If you need to acquire some, you can here. (Side note, this is not a paid advertisement, lol!) I guess you need some pasta sauce too. Here's the recipe for Garden Fresh Marinara sauce

put all the ingredients in a large mixing bowl. I used 2 pounds of ground beef and 1/2 cup panko flakes

My yummy Watkin's Garlic Peppercorns

roll them into balls. These are golf ball sized. That's what my boy likes and I try and be a good momma.

Put them in a hot, oiled cast iron skillet. Don't crowd them or they'll cook funky.

brown them on all sides. It only takes a few minutes

then put them in the sauce you made and simmer them for about 30 minutes to finish cooking.

I'm assuming you can boil your own pasta, just add your meatballs and sauce to your pasta and Voila! Super easy and yummy Spaghetti and Meatballs. Yes, sadly that is cheese from a green container. This is my boy's plate and he doesn't appreciate the subtle nuances of fresh grated Parmesan. Oh that and I was plum out of it.

10 Grain Bread

2011-07-21T04:47:00.000-07:00

Yesterday we had buns, today sandwich bread. Over the last few years, we've (what I really mean is I and TGIM pretty much has to go along with it because I run the kitchen) gone through our own "food revolution." Love ya Jamie! We try not to eat processed foods, foods with ingredients I can't pronounce. Love you too Michael Pollan. The hows and whys I'll save for a different post.

We used to get the whole grain bread from Costco and we'd get 4+ loaves per trip and that wouldn't last long enough until the next trip. Costco is even further that the regular grocery store, over an hour away. With gas (and time) costing so much, we only make the trek down the mountain when we "need" to.

For my birthday last year Mr. M went big and got me a beautiful, wonderful, magnificent Kitchenaid Mixer. One thing you have to know about my normally thrifty husband is that when he decides to invest in a tool (and you better belive a mixer in my kitchen is a tool) he goes big. We lucked out and found the Professional 600 series on sale for only $10 more that the "normal" one. Yeah, for $10 you better believe I'm getting the ginormous one. I got it home and immediately started playing. I had grand ideas of bread baking so I got started and failed. Seriously after the first 5 attempts at bread making I gave up and my beautiful mixer sat neglected on my counter. The thing is so big it wouldn't fit into any of my cabinets and it stared at me and I swear it laughed at me.

As I was reading some of my favorite food blogs I came across a book by Jeff Hertzberg and Zoe Francois, Artisan Bread in 5 Minutes a Day. Several of them mentioned the book so I ordered it from Amazon. It has changed my life! With this book, and their 2nd book, Healthy Bread in 5 Minutes a Day, it's so stinking easy to have fresh baked bread there is no need (I seriously was almost punny and said "knead") to buy bread.

Here's one of my favorite breads from the "Healthy" book, 10 Grain Bread. This recipe makes about four 1-pound loaves. If you want a hearty sandwich size loaf, then use about 1/3 of the dough.

The ingredients.... 2 cups ten-grain cereal (Bob's Red Mill is what they recommend), 3 cups wheat flour, 2 cups white flour, 1.5 Tbl yeast, 1/4 cup vital wheat gluten, 1 Tbl salt and 3.5 cups lukewarm water

Put all the dry ingredients in a 5 quart bowl. I used my mixer bowl because it's 6 quarts

I didn't take pictures of adding all the ingredients individually, I'm sure you're smart enough to add 2 cups of flour without a picture.

Either whisk them together or give it a few turns with the paddle attachment of your mixer. See how the cereal is incorporated into the flours.

pour in 3.5 cups of lukewarm water

without kneading mix it all together. You might need to wet your hands to get the last little bits if you're not using a mixer.

Mix it until it looks like this. It's going to be fairly wet. Don't worry, it's supposed to be that way.

Plop it into your 6 quart container and cover (not airtight). Let it rise for about 2 hours

until it looks like this. At this point, you can bake a loaf of bread or toss the container in your fridge for use in the next 10 days.

When you're ready to bake a loaf, pull off a hunk and form it into the loaf (you can do a free form one too) and put it into your loaf pan. Cover and let rise for 1 hour 40 minutes. (only 40 if you're using fresh, unrefrigerated dough)

Preheat the oven to 450. Make some slits on top of the bread with a serrated knife. You can brush with water and add more of the cereal if you'd like. Bake for about 30-35 minutes until brown and firm.

Let cool before slicing.

40 minute buns

2011-07-20T04:08:00.000-07:00

I haven't bought a loaf of bread in almost 6 months. In fact, I haven't even bought hamburger buns, pita bread, or tortillas in almost that long. Well, one time I was in a pinch and bought a pack of tortillas at Trader Joe's. Part of the reason I started baking my own bread is convenience. CONVENIENCE??? Did I just say it was more convenient for me to make bread rather than buy it at the store? I sure did.

I meal plan for the week. We subscribe to a produce co-op and when they post the contents of the basket, I make a meal plan around that. And while I LOVE lists and am NOT a spontaneous person I don't necessarily stick 100% to the plan. Occasionally TGIM (that guy I married) will ask for something not on the list for dinner. If I can and it won't throw me off completely, I try and accommodate him. I'm such a good wife, he he he. I digress.... back to why it's convenient to make rather than buy. A few months ago he asked for pulled pork sandwiches. I happened to have some premade pork in the freezer but no buns. So I did some quick thinking inside of my head (what book is that from??? Anyone, anyone?) and decided that I'd just make some. Again, why is that easier you ask? I live 15 miles from town and the grocery store and have to go up and over a mountain AND it was winter and icy outside. I also have 2 boys ages 4 and 5. That means I'd have to bundle them up, strap them both in the car and drive 30 miles roundtrip to the store AND shop with them. Yeah, I don't love my husband that much.

Instead, I called my girlfriend and we spent the afternoon baking buns. The following recipe is not the one we used that day. Then it was winter and cold outside so an afternoon of the oven on was welcome. Today however, it's summer an 89 outside. Generally, that doesn't stop me from baking bread, it just means that I do it early, before it gets hot outside. Pulled pork sandwiches are on the menu for tonight and I had planned on getting them going first thing as it takes 2 hours to rise before you even get them in the oven. Life and 2 children got in the way and I didn't get them started early enough. I went "internet shopping" for a new and "quick" bun recipe and found one from Taste of Home that I modified a smidge. Also, I thought with the sugar in the recipe, they'd be just a little on the sweet side and would go well with the bbq pork.

Here's what you need... 2 cups all-purpose flour, 1 cup wheat flour, 1 tsp salt, 2 tbl yeast, 1 egg and 1/4 cup sugar. Oh and 1/3 cup oil that I forgot to include in the picture

add the yeast to 1 cup warm water.

give it a little stir until it's frothy

add the oil

and the sugar

give it another stir

let it sit for 5 minutes and it'll look like this

add the egg

and the salt

then the wheat flour

and the white flour. Or the other way around. I don't think it matters.

Now stir it into a soft dough. I used my hand (yes I washed them first) and mixed it up. And for the life of my I don't know why this picture is rotated and I can't get it to turn so bear with me.

then turn it out onto a floured surface and knead it until it's smooth. Don't let it rise first.

form them into 8 balls and put them on a greased baking sheet (or your pizza stone). Cover them and let them rise for 10 minutes. At this point, turn your oven to 425 and by the time the oven is preheated, they'll be finished rising.

Bake them at 425 for 8-10 minutes or until golden brown.

In case you're wondering.... it was a line from my favorite Dr. Seuss book, "I Had Trouble Getting To Solla Sellew." Anyone get that?

OMG Mushrooms!

2011-07-19T04:05:00.000-07:00

A few years ago my sister came to visit and made these mushrooms. I'm not a huge fan of mushrooms and my girlfriend who was there doesn't like them at all. We both wound up eating a ton of them. (Sidebar, my sister is an professional Chef)

What you need.....mushrooms, butter and salt and pepper

I used 1/2 stick of butter, cut into pieces and put in a cast iron skillet

Then just put the whole mushrooms on top of the butter and sprinkle with kosher salt

and some fresh ground black pepper.

Here's the hard part.....leave them alone until they get nice and crispy

Now, leave them alone again. Turn them so the get crisp all over

Then put them on your plate and gobble them up!

Garden Fresh Marinara Sauce

2011-07-18T06:07:00.000-07:00

My husband and children LOVE pasta. Seriously, they would eat it every day if I let them. I knew that I was going to can some fresh tomatoes over the weekend and that I would have some "leftovers." For those of you who've never canned before (and I highly suggest that you try it some time) one canner load is 7 quarts, so I canned 7 quarts of tomatoes and had about 2 quarts left over. I didn't feel like running another batch for that little amount so when I meal planned for this week, I included some sort of pasta dish with a red sauce.

While theoretically all the ingredients except the wine, olive oil, salt and pepper could have come from my garden, they didn't. That's only because they're not ready yet. I do have all of the ingredients planted and am anxiously awaiting their arrival.

Here's what you need. Tomatoes, onion, garlic, bell pepper (optional) red wine, olive oil, Italian Seasoning, and some salt and black pepper.

First thing..... chop some onion. I used 2 small yellow onions. You could use 1 large one. You could also use red onion. It all depends on what you like.

Add a little olive oil to your pot.

Toss in those onions.

When they're translucent and shiny like this.....

Toss in your minced garlic.

Right about now your kitchen is going to smell fantastic. So fantastic that your husband is going to come in from the garage and ask for dinner now. It doesn't matter that 10 minutes ago he finished lunch.

Now toss in your chopped bell pepper. I used a red pepper but that's because that's what I had. Feel free to use any color you want, or leave it out if you don't like the flavor of bell peppers.

Grab yourself a cup of red wine. I used a Pinot Noir, again because that's what I had on hand. Now, go ahead and have a glass of wine for yourself. I don't care that it's 11am. Cooking while enjoying a glass of wine is such a pleasure. LOL!

When your pot of yum looks like this.....

pour in the wine and deglaze the pot.

Make sure that you scrape the little bits of onion/garlic/pepper that may have stuck to the bottom of the pot.

Now add your tomatoes. These are actually fresh tomatoes that I blanched and peeled and cut in quarters. That's just part of the canning process. Had I just picked them from my garden, I would have left the skin on.

Add 1 Tbl Italian Seasonings.

and some salt and fresh ground pepper. I forgot to take a picture of the salt, just use your imagination. he he he Let it simmer uncovered for about 2 hours. I don't cover it so some of the water in the tomatoes can evaporate and the sauce will thicken.

At this point you can use an immersion blender (or a regular one) to blend out the chunks, unless you want a chunky sauce then don't do that. My guys prefer a smoother sauce so I blend.

Voila! Your lovely garden fresh sauce is ready. You can adjust the seasonings to your taste. I like to start with a "small" amount of salt and then add more at the end if needed. I did wind up adding a pinch more salt.

At this point you can do many different things with it. Later this week we're going to have Eggplant Parmesan and Spaghetti with Meatballs.

Salsa Verde

2011-07-16T15:42:00.001-07:00

It's that time of year when produce, especially tomatillos, is plentiful. I'm lucky in that I live in Southern California and have easy access to local, organic produce. That being said, in the last 2 weeks I've acquired 50 pounds (that's not a typo) of organic tomatillos. What in the world does a person do with 50 pounds of tomatillos you ask? Make salsa verde of course! It's super easy to make and is way better than anything you'll get from a store. I canned mine to enjoy throughout the year but you don't have to do that. I'm going to show you how to make a single batch. You ready? Here's what you need.....

Tomatillos! This is approximately 20 pounds, unless you plan on canning 17 pints like I did, you only need about 1-2 pounds. The rest of the stuff..... serranos, garlic, cilantro and kosher salt (I forgot to include that in the picture)Husk the tomatillos and put them in a pot. Cover them with water and bring to a boil. Here's a great little trick my mother in law taught me. Tomatillos are naturally sticky and a bit bitter. When they just get to a boil, dump the water and put fresh, cold water in the pot. Bring the new water to a boil and cook about 10 minutes until they look like this....

You see the tomatillos have turned from a bright green to sort of a dull green and they look soft. They're done at this point. Drain the water and let them cool in a stainless steel or glass bowl. They're very hot at this point so you don't want to use a plastic bowl. Can you just imagine melted plastic bowl in your salsa? Gross!

While your tomatillos are cooking, grab your serranos and give them a quick roast on a cast iron skillet. How many serranos to use? Good question, it depends. How's that for vague? It depends on your heat tolerance. For a "medium" heat I use about 3 or 4 peppers per batch. You could go more or less depending on your likes.

Toss a clove of garlic, serranos, a small handful (or more again depends on your likes..... you could even leave it out) of cilantro and about 1 TSP salt in the blender and puree it. It helps to have your 4 year old throw things in while you take bad pictures of the process.

That's it. At this point it's going to be pretty warm so let it cool, and then put it in a jar in the fridge to enjoy.

February Club Layouts - Sophia

2011-02-09T14:39:00.000-08:00

As being the mom of boys, I always struggle with the "girly" paper. I've begged and pleaded with my club members NOT to pick the girl paper. For some reason, they never listen. LOL! It could be because THEY all have girls! So, I've decided to embrace the girl paper. After all, most of my girlfriends HAVE girls so I'll just borrow them for some pictures. Sounds like a win-win to me.

We went to a Superbowl Party last weekend at a friend's house and she had things planned for the kids. During halftime she set up an obstacle course for them to run through. They had so much fun AND I didn't have too much trouble using pictures of my boys (and other participants) on this layout. (The big picture on the left is my friend/hostess showing Aaron how to hopscotch.)

After we were finished with the obstacle course I had all the kids lay in the grass for some "heads together" pictures. OOOHHH, I think I have my title now.

This last layout is of my friend's daughter Sydney. She was born without her left forearm and hand and does not let that stop her. She can do a handstand like no other. Like my feet at the bottom of the picture????

The New Spring/Summer Idea Book is here!

2011-02-03T13:59:00.000-08:00

The new Close to my Heart 2011 Spring/Summer Idea Book is finally here! CTMH changed things up and now the Idea Books good for 6 months. There are some adorable new paper packs now available. Give me a call or shoot me an email and I'll get a copy to you asap! I promise you're going to love, love, love all the new stuff!

Silly Beers!

2011-02-03T02:14:00.000-08:00

This is the last layout from my cousin's wedding last October. I adore her new husband, Lew Beers. Yes, Beers is his actual last name! How appropriate in my family! ha ha ha. Lew is full of life and just the nicest guy you'd ever want to meet. His son and father are joys to be around too. Here were just a few of my favorite pictures of them from the wedding. Welcome to the family guys!

Plenty for 20 - Free Stamp Set

2010-12-07T08:20:00.001-08:00

Can you believe it??? Close to my Heart is doing it again! The amazing December special is simple, go to my website, place an order for $20 (yes, only $20) and get a retiring D sized stamp set FREE! How awsome is that?

Can't figure out what to order? There are several items that will be retired on Dec 31. You can view them here. Once they are gone, they're gone for good so get them while you can!

Merry Christmas to YOU!

the real reason

2010-11-28T14:37:00.000-08:00

So, the real reason I've been all about copying layouts from other people is that I've not wanted to scrap the things I "needed" to scrap. I know some of you will say bad words when I admit that I'm "caught up" with my scrapping. Sure, I have a few misc things I want to scrap but for the most part, I'm up to date.

My cousin got married on 10/10/10 so I've got a lot of the wedding to scrap. On one hand, it was a great day, full of life and love and all that stuff. I got a great new cousin and 2nd cousin (it wasn't the first marriage for either of them). On the other hand, it was a horrible day.

Pictured below are some very good family friends. So good in fact that I joke Cathie is the "good daughter." Tom and Cathie live next to my parents and they keep an eye on them. Tom was a boat Captain and therefore able to marry people. He performed the ceremony marrying my cousin and her new husband. It was a beautiful day in San Diego and after the reception my parents and Tom decided to go on a motorcycle ride. Unfortunately as they were coming home some woman didn't see Tom and made a u-turn and hit him. He had some health issues but he would up passing away 2 weeks later. It's been a very hard time for all of us, especially my dad, he witnessed the accident and Cathie because she lost her best friend. Tom was truly one of the most joyful people on earth. Anyway, not to be rambly and melancholy (although I have been here) it's been hard for me to scrap the wedding because of what happened to Tom. I'm just glad that I snapped a few pictures of him and Cathie before the accident.

more bonus Mistletoe layouts

2010-11-27T14:31:00.000-08:00

These next two layouts from the Mistletoe paper pack I straight up copied from another CTMH consultant, Corina Mitchell. I thought they were just too darn cute and had to make them. Again, I embossed the ornament with the gold glitter powder to make it sparkle. I should wait 2 weeks until after the town Christmas Parade and visit with Santa, but I'm on a posting roll. Maybe I'll post them with pictures on them.

my little Hooligans

2010-11-26T14:25:00.000-08:00

Yet another adorable paper pack from the current idea book, Hooligans. The little felt monsters are to die for. This was one of the club layouts for October, and the only one I have pictures on.

A bonus layout

2010-11-25T13:46:00.000-08:00

I don't know about you but I love love love using up my paper packs. I generally try and make as many layouts/projects/cards as I possibly can. Here's a "bonus" layout for the December club meeting. These dimensional elements ornaments are just plain fun! I embossed the large one with gold glitter embossing powder so it sparkles like a real ornament. After I made this layout I actually thought about getting the tree out and decorating it. Then I would have had to take a shower and get dressed and do my hair so I would look semi-cute in the pictures...... yeah, that didn't happen. Soon though!

Olivia Club Layouts

2010-11-24T13:39:00.000-08:00

Olivia is my favorite paper pack from the current idea book. I have no idea why, since I have 2 little boys and I'm NOT a girly-girl. I just love the greens, oranges and pinks in this paper pack.

These were the club layouts for November. Even though I have those rough and tumble little boys I managed to fill the pages just fine. As a matter of fact, I've done a few more pages for a trip the hubs and I are going to take in March. Nothing like the dream of a weekend away....without children!

Oh me, oh my... it's been a long time.

2010-11-23T12:49:00.000-08:00

It has been a very VERY long time since I've posted. I do apologize, things have been crazy in my little world. The boys both started school a few months ago and I feel like I never stop driving. As soon as I get home from dropping the last one off, I have 2 hours until I have to get the first one. Just a few more years and they'll both be in school full time.... I have no idea what I'll do with all that free time... ha ha ha ha ha ha.

The layouts below are the 3 layouts we will do at our December Club meeting. They don't look so hot without pictures on them, but once there are they will be super cute.

Just a little FYI for you. Close to my Heart is changing up the way they're doing things. We will be going to 2 books per year, with 6 new paper packs per book. The paper and embellishments are only going to be available during the current Idea Book. (This all begins Feb 2011). So, if you love this adorable paper pack, and embellishments (the poinsettia flowers are the cutest thing ever) you'd better get it while you can! This, as well as all the papers/embellishments in the current book are going to retire Jan 31, 2011.

Mammoth and Yosemite

2010-09-13T06:37:00.000-07:00

One more thing I love about Studio J is how fast you can get caught up! We took a "mini vacation" on our drive from New Mexico back to California and did lots of stuff, meaning LOTS of pictures. Two weeks after we got home to CA, we went on vacation to my FAVORITE place in the world, the Eastern Sierras (Mammoth and Yosemite) again, LOTS of pictures. With Studio J, I was able to catch up (so far 14 layouts between the 2 vacations) in 2 evenings.

Oh my, how I love Studio J!!!!!!

2010-09-10T07:28:00.000-07:00

Oh my is right! I'm so totally loving the new Studio J membership! There are 20+ new layouts AND a paper pack for members only. It's FANTASTIC!!!!!
When we made our way from New Mexico to California we took our time and turned it into a little vacation. We went up to Albuquerque to visit some family and went to the Natural History and Children's Museums. (We did a lot more on the trip, those layouts to come in the next few days) I had sooooo many pictures to scrapbook, I decided to use Studio J so I could whip them out. In just a few hours I had 10, yes 10 layouts completed.

One of the greatest things about a Studio J membership is you get layouts with these great "shaped" paper. I don't know about you guys but when I get some fun scalloped paper I never want to use it, it's special you know! With Studio J that's over!

I especially love this layout, why you ask??? Look at the picture on the left side, it's 6x12 inches. If I were to print that in a store, I'd pay upwards of $15. Just for the picture!!!!!! Crazy huh???? With my Studio J membership, the entire layout cost $6.50. No where could I traditional scrap this layout for this price.

The best part about Studio J is that it's free to try. You can go into it and make your layout, you only pay when you purchase. Of course, unless you're a member you can't do the second two layouts, since they're for members only. Wait! There's a "work around" you can purchase a 5 layout membership for $55 (includes shipping and page protectors) or a 3 month membership for $30 (includes free shipping once per month for 4 to 10 layouts, and page protectors). If you're interested in giving Studio J a try click on my website or give me a call.

Family layout for Nita

2010-09-08T13:21:00.000-07:00

This is the layout we'll be making for Nita's party this weekend. It uses all sorts of fantastic new product. The beautiful Olivia paper pack, sparkly new brads and another layout from the new Magic book. The white photo mats are just a placeholder since I don't have pictures yet.

Where does the time go?????

2010-09-03T07:09:00.000-07:00

I had good intentions of being a better blogger, really I did. Things just got away from me and I realize that it's been a month since I've posted. My "baby," my first born started Kindergarten and now my live has changed dramatically. With that and getting readjusted to being in our house, I've also been busy doing some stuff for my cousin, which I'll share soon.

Enough about that, on to more important things. It's September and time for a brand new Close to my Heart Idea Book. Click here or on the button on the right to go to my website. There are some Fab-U-lous new papers AND as many of you have been waiting for.... a new layout book, Magic. You're going to love, love, love it!

This layout is one of the ones from the new Magic book and although it uses "old" paper, Moon Doggie, it was so much fun to make. My journaling was private so behind the picture of me and my dad, I made a pocket and used some tags for my journaling. Leo turned 5 last month and called his grandpa (my dad) and told grandpa that he wanted to go on a "boat ride" for his birthday so grandpa obliged and we all went for a family sail. It was a beautiful day and we had so much fun. In the 38 years I've "known" my dad, I've never really seen him as happy as he is when he's sailing.

CTMH Huge Paper Sale!!!!!!!!!!!!!

2010-07-30T08:34:00.000-07:00

$2, $4, $6, for 8...It’s YOU We Appreciate! CTMH wants to show how much we appreciate you! And to do so, we are bringing an amazing sale with SUPER deals to you for 8 days only. From on August 4 at 9 am (MDT) through August 11, while supplies last, you can purchase selected My Stickease® assortments for only $2, My Reflections® Level 1 kits for only $4, and My Reflections® Level 2 paper packets for only $6 on MyCTMH® website. That’s more than 50% off. Click here to view the list.

Can you even believe this list of amazing paper packs & stickers!?!?! It is literally every paper pack since our Fall 2009 Idea Book. Many of these papers are already retired. And here’s a little secret – all of them will be retired as of December 31, 2010. So now is the time to stock up!!!! If you don’t recognize the name of a kit, you can find them on MyCTMH website.

Are these items available only on a MyCTMH site? Yes! We will only be offering these items for sale on MyCTMH site.

Can I purchase other items at full retail along with these discounted My Stickease, My Reflections Level 1 kits and Level 2 paper packets on the same MyCTMH order? Yes! You will be able to mix and mingle the items for sale from the $2, $4, $6, for 8...It’s YOU We Appreciate campaign along with regularly priced items for sale on MyCTMH site.
Is this campaign a “while supplies last” campaign? Yes. We have provided a many, many items numbers for you to purchase from during the campaign. So there is ample supply on hand but each item is while supplies last.
Will the purchase of the discounted My Stickease, My Reflections Level 1 kits and Level 2 paper packets count toward my customer receiving the Stamp of the Month at a discount or even free? Yes! Your purchases for the campaign count toward the Stamp of the Month incentive.
How much is shipping/handling for the $2, $4, $6, for 8...It’s YOU We Appreciate campaign deals? Regular shipping and handling applies and will not change for this campaign. All MyCTMH shipping prices are based on the weight of items ordered, not the price of the items ordered. This means that shipping prices well reflect the costs of shipping even discounted products.
Is there a limit to the number of My Stickease, Level 1, and Level 2 paper packets a customer can purchase on one order? Nope! There is no limit to the number of items you can purchase on one order. So print off this list and highlight the paper you can’t live without. Then come back on Wednesday and get them ordered!!!

Together

2010-06-17T05:20:00.000-07:00

Here's another launch day layout for you. My mother in law was able to come out here for the launch. It was nice that she got to be a part of what her son does. She was pretty excited to be able to experience it.

Summertime

2010-06-16T09:05:00.000-07:00

One of the nice things about living on post is there is this great splash park behind the housing office. We have had a lot of fun playing there. Aaron isn't so keen on it, he doesn't like to get splashed in the face so he pretty much watches or waits til it turns off (it's got a motion sensor so it turns off if no one is there playing). Now that he's in swim lessons and has been putting his face in the water, maybe he'd like it more.

Whole LOTTA Love!

2010-06-15T04:41:00.000-07:00

Here's something you might not know, NASA folk can party. You wouldn't think that a bunch of geeky engineers could, but man, oh man, they can drink! So much in fact, that the bar ran out of several items.

THEN, once the drinking has gone on for about 10 seconds, the love starts. This project was a long time in the making and a lot of people spent months, and months, and months away from their families and worked 80+ hour weeks.

I used to work at NASA before I had children and I was very happy to see many of my old friends at the party. Some had moved to New Mexico like us, but I rarely got to see even them since their work schedule was so tough.

Launch it baby!

2010-06-14T07:28:00.000-07:00

This layout is the actual 2 minutes of the launch. They were testing the Launch Abort System (LAS) which is the actual rocket (with 3 separate propulsion systems) that would jettison the CM away from potential mishap. It was a highly successful flight and such a great experience. The technology used in this was amazing!

Spies like Us.

2010-06-13T07:03:00.000-07:00

Still taking a break from launch posts and giving you the last one from my girls weekend in Pasadena last year. I can't believe it's been a year already, how the time flies. This one is a little.... umm.... I can't really think of a good word. Since me and my friend Jill (pictured, sorta here) are active CTMH consultants and my friend Jen is a former consultant, of course we had to check out the booth.

determination!

2010-06-12T04:27:00.000-07:00

Taking a break from PA-1 layouts here for you.

We have a great tree in our backyard here in NM. It's just a little bit to tall for the kids to climb, but they are determined to climb it. My rule is that if you're not big enough to get up on your own, you're not big enough to climb the tree. This day they were taking the hose and using it in all sorts of ways to get up the tree. At one point, they had tied it to the slide and were pulling as if to use the slide as an elevator.
I did tell Martel that on our last day in the house, he was going to have to help them climb the tree. :)

Almost Famous!

2010-06-11T04:19:00.000-07:00

As we were watching the PA-1 launch, Martel had Leo on his shoulders so Leo could see better. After the launch a reporter came up to Martel and said that he had been trying to get a picture of them and asked if he could take their picture. I couldn't believe it when Martel agreed and then he spoke, actually spoke to a reporter. My taciturn husband spoke to a reporter. As you can tell, I'm still amazed and it's been a month. Not only did the reporter take this great picture, it was on the front page of the Las Cruces Sun News the next day.

So Cool!

2010-06-10T04:03:00.000-07:00

One of my husband's job duties (back home) is Shuttle Recovery if it lands at Dryden Flight Research Center (see this post) Last year STS-125 landed at Dryden and the Commander was Scott Altman. Martel came home and said that it was the best landing he'd ever seen.

Scott Altman happened to be at the PA-1 launch and was talking to the crowd. I went up to him and introduced myself, and Martel, to him and told him what Martel does and said about his landing. Scott (as he introduced himself) seemed to be happy to hear what Martel had to say about his piloting skills and posed for pictures with us (and Alex, our neighbor who came to the launch with us)

One big adventure

2010-06-09T06:53:00.000-07:00

As some of you know, we temporarily relocated to the Las Cruces, New Mexico are for my husband's work. For those that don't know me/us, he's a Mechanical Engineer for NASA and is currently on the Orion Crew Exploration Vehicle (CEV) Project. They were getting ready to do some serious flight testing and moved the main crew to New Mexico (from different NASA centers throughout the country) to do the test. What they (successfully) did here was the Pad Abort 1 (PA-1) test which in a nutshell will jettison the crew module off the launch rocket in the event of a mishap. This one test flight is the reason that we've been in New Mexico for the last 8 months.

Enough jibber-jabber now, here's the first page of the album (yes, I'm dedicating an entire album to this, as it's a significant part of our lives). This is the Operations Crew (which my husband is a part of) in front of the Crew Module (CM) with the Launch Abort System (LAS) on attached to it.

It's HERE!!!! It's HERE!!!!

2010-05-01T07:26:00.000-07:00

The Summer 2010 Idea Book is live to customers TODAY!!!!!!

There are SO many great new things in them. Click HERE to take a peak.

Notice the cool thing on the right side? Now you can call me anytime. All you do is click on the link and enter in your phone number. Google Voice will call you and then call me. AND it's a free call! (if you use your cell, minutes still apply) How cool is that?????

A Sweet Life

2010-04-21T16:49:00.000-07:00

I can't believe it's been 3 weeks since I've posted! The life of a stay home mom can get a little crazy! LOL! Spring has hit Southern New Mexico with all her glory and we spend most of our days outside. And while my lovely husband is now on 2nd shift, leaving my evenings free (once the rugrats go to bed) I'm finding lots of time to craft, just.... well I'll admit it, I've just been lazy. You know because it's SOOOOO hard to take a photo (well, a GOOD photo of a layout is hard, but I don't take GOOD pictures of them ha ha ha), upload it and write a few sentences. @@ Yeah, I've got no excuse!

Anyway, great news! May 1st, the Summer Idea book goes live to customers. I must tell you, I love all the paper packs! I can't remember when that's happened. :) As usual, there are some pink and "girly" papers, such as this one here , Cherry-O. I, as a consultant, have access to all the fun new stuff a month before the public does. I placed my order for new goodies and didn't order this paper pack. Then, on Easter, Leo and I made a strawberry cake, actually Leo did most of the work and was so proud of himself. I know we used strawberries, but after we made the cake and I looked at the pictures, I ran to the computer and placed ANOTHER order just so I could do this layout! Yeah, I've got problems.

EVERYTHING on this layout was from the Cherry-O Workshop on the Go. I love these things, you get so much for your money, including the fun cherry stamp set that's only available with this kit. AND, I have TONS of paper and embellishments left over. If any of you are interested in purchasing this kit, drop me a line!

Holy Rockstar!

2010-03-25T17:18:00.000-07:00

I got my new Rockstar Workshop on the Go (WOTG) from Close to my Heart yesterday. Today I decided to take an afternoon for myself and scrapbook. Man, I was on a roll and did 5 layouts! All of them are from the Rockstar paper pack AND I still have 3 full sheets of paper and a whole bunch of embellishments leftover. Here's a picture of all the layouts together and the leftover paper, just so you can see what your dollar (or $40) buys

This layout was the reason I wanted the WOTG. My crazy husband participated in the Bataan Memorial Death March last Sunday and marched 21 miles through the sand. Unfortunately, he wasn't able to finish the whole march (it was 26 miles). His bad leg just couldn't take anymore torture so he did the smart thing and didn't finish. I don't have all the pictures yet, he went with his friends who had cameras and they ACTUALLY took pictures. (like my cute pooch???

The reason I "needed" the Rockstar pack and EVERYTHING that you can add on was for these pictures. Leo's friend came over to play recently and they had an imaginary rock band going. It was soooooo funny! Leo was channeling my all time favorite musical performer, Henry Rollins. Most people who know me wouldn't think anything of it EXCEPT Leo's never seen Henry perform. I may love him, but my 4 year old shouldn't be listening to him. :) I digress, during this rockin performance, Leo was belting out rather "head bangerish" Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star. It was one time when I desperately wished for a video camera.

The next reason I wanted this paper pack was because I thought the colors would go nicely with these pictures. The first day we moved in, I met our neighbor Dawn. Martel and her husband, Randy, had never met. The first weekend we were there, Dawn and I were at the fence chatting when Randy comes out with his favorite German beer. Dawn proceeds to "teach" Martel how to pour it. (there is a special way to do it and if you don't, it doesn't taste as good, in fact it's quite yucky straight from the bottle).

This is one of the layouts I did, just to do. I had no pictures for it. The layout is an example on the back of one of the sheets of Stickease. Then I saw these pictures of Leo and his best friend here at WSMR, Leah. Yes, we have a Leah. She thinks its so funny that she and I have the same name. I keep telling her that she spells her name wrong though. ;)

Again, I thought these pictures would go well with the colors of the paper pack and just used up a few of the scraps.

We have poppies, just like at home in California. And just like at home in California, Leo thinks that he can pick a "puppy" flower as he calls them, and then plant them were HE thinks they should be. So far he has not successfully transplanted a puppy flower.

Almost everything I used today was from CTMH and the Rockstar line except a few buttons and Thickers for some titles.

If anyone is interested in purchasing this fantastic kit, drop me a line.

Studio J layouts

2010-03-09T04:26:00.000-08:00

I recently played around with the new Studio J digital layouts, soon to be available to the public. Man, were they fun! You don't need any special software, just internet access. I sat on my couch and watched TV and just scrapped away. I could have done it at Starbucks! LOL!

Each layout is $12.95 plus shipping. I know that sounds like a lot but there are several things that help the cost.

You don't have to print your own pictures. You just drag and drop them into the layout. I don't know about you, but I do like to use larger than 4x6 photos and printing an 8x10 can be several dollars.
You can put as many embellishment on your layout as you'd like. You all know I'm a button-a-holic. I can't do a layout without buttons and those little things add up. With Studio J, I can cover my entire page with buttons and the price doesn't change.
You NEVER run out of alphabet stickease! NEVER! That right there is a huge bonus. Not only do you never run out of alphabets, you can resize all of the stickease and use them over and over again.

Here are a few of the layouts I made up.

See how the title and journalling look like they are attached to vellum and then adhered to the page? Yet another fun feature of Studio J!

I chose this layout because not only does it call for an 8x10 but those angles the side pictures are a pain in the tush to cut out. I did this layout once (click here) and swore I wouldn't do it again, no matter how cute I think it is. Not anymore! I can do this layout til the cows come home now.

The letter stickease didn't fit into the title box but you can adjust them just so. Same with the Wild West stickease. It wasn't the right size to go in that spot but I just shrank it a bit for a perfect fit!

These layouts were so much fun and hardly took any time at all.

Project Life update

2010-02-22T07:57:00.000-08:00

Things have been pretty crazy the last few weeks. We moved, AGAIN! I spent the better part of the week 2 weeks ago packing and the better part of last week unpacking. That didn't leave much time for blogging. And truth be told, it didn't leave me a lot of time to take pictures of the happenings of the last 2 weeks.
That being said, here are some highlights of the last few weeks....

Our new neighbors welcomed Martel with a wonderful German beer. D and R (the neighbors) showed Martel the proper way to pour it into the glass. Something about the yeast and hops that settle in the bottom of the bottle. I'm not much of a Hefenweizen fan but this was some good stuff.

Our nice big backyard! The boys love playing in it and are wiped out at the end of the day. I love the peace it gives me. ha ha ha

We have commissary privileges while we're here on post. Martel came home for lunch and we walked down to do a little shopping. It was a beautiful day and we enjoyed the sunshine and Daddy being home so much.

There is this little room, about 6'x6' off the living room in our house. It's primary use was as a tack room, for the soldiers to keep their gear in. At first I was going to give it to Martel to use as storage, then I saw the shelves and claimed it as my scraproom. (Things are a little more organized now and the table's up)

Our lovely "new" cinder block house circa 1950. It's small and old but has a garage and a yard. It's fan-freakin-tastic!

For the life of me, I can't get the picture to turn right. I guess it doesn't matter. I've decided that nachos are the perfect meal. You've got the salty, crunchy chips; the smooth and creamy cheese and beans; spicy jalapenos and salsa; cool sour cream and all the rest. In this case the rest included grilled chicken, lettuce and avocado. They were perfect!

A few weeks ago Leo wanted Pepsi for breakfast. Our conversation went something like this.

Leo: Mom, I want Pepsi for breakfast.

Me: Leo, we don't have Pepsi for breakfast. We occasionally have Pepsi with dinner.

Leo: Ok mom. (he proceeds to eat his proper breakfast)

Leo: Mom! I'm finished with my breakfast now. I'm ready for dinner!

Me: slaps my head and sighs. What do you say to that????

Then we proceeded to have a discussion that dinner isn't a state of mind, it's a time of day when you eat a meal. The joys of 4 year olds.

Leo came running to get me and told me there was a rainbow in his bathroom. There are some glass bricks in the apartment we lived in and in the afternoon when the sun hits them just right and makes colored prism. Sadly, they didn't show up well in the picture that Leo took.

He's amazing

2010-02-21T04:28:00.000-08:00

So this one isn't as "manly" as my husband would probably like, but it's my layout and I can do it how I want. ha ha ha. I wanted to make sure to capture the saga of the wedding ring (you can find the story here). I just have to do the journaling and find a place to put it.

Rock Star

2010-02-20T04:18:00.000-08:00

Leo had such a good time playing with his friend Sterling's guitar while Sterling's mom cut off Martel's hair. I think that we might need to invest in some music instruments for him.

By the way, this is the CTMH Jingle (Christmas) paper pack. I love how versatile it is.

Project Life week 7

2010-02-19T06:48:00.000-08:00

Again, I'm a little late on the posting here. I've been good about taking pictures, just not so good on the downloading them. So here goes for week 7.

Leo and Aaron love Dora and Diego. Last night Leo decided that he needed to make a map. He drew a path and a lake and a rock but didn't know where the map led us.

Feb 8

Leo has now discovered Sesame Street computer games online. It kept him very occupied on a day where I didn't feel like doing much.

Feb 9

My lovely child has a patience issue. When he's hungry, he's HUNGRY and wants to eat now. And if I'm not fast enough, he'll climb on the counters and get something. We're working on this, but so far no punishments are working. (any suggestions????)

Feb 10

Again with the Diego thing. Leo's been wanting a "spotting scope" for ages. I had been meaning to help him make one for a long time and the other day, we went to the dreaded McDonalds. I hadn't planned on getting them Happy Meals but saw the spotting scope toy and let them. They're running around the apartment looking at things.

Feb 11

On Fridays, we meet a homeschool group for their play time. The park where we meet at has this pretty tall (it's quite a bit taller than Martel, so I'd guess it's about 8 feet high) rock wall and today Aaron climbed to the top all by himself. Not bad for a 2 1/2 year old.

Feb 12

Martel has a 3 day weekend and on Sat we ran a bunch of errands but managed to sneak in a quick trip to the batting cages.

Feb 13

Project Life week 6

2010-02-10T06:53:00.000-08:00

A day late but better late than never, right? Here are my pictures for Project Life Week 6. Today I wanted to get out of the apartment and really had no specific destination in mind. We drove for a while and wound up at Fort Selden, about 15 miles north of Las Cruces. We wandered around for a bit and got to see all the artifacts. It was really nice.

Jan 31, 2010

One of the things that drives me nuts is that Martel plays ball in the house with the boys. I get that right now we live in an apartment, but he does it at home too, even though we have a huge backyard.

Feb 1, 2010

This was a sad day. They announced the Constellation Program will be cancelled in Fiscal Year 2011 (which actually begins Oct 1, 2010) The good news is that they're continuing on as planned here in Las Cruces, so we'll still be here for a few more months.

Feb 2, 2010

Aaron loves Food TV, especially Guy Fieri. Today he was in the other room and heard him talking and ran in saying "Guy, Guy." He snuggled down on the couch to watch.

Feb 3, 2010

I can't believe this happened! No only is the hamper empty, all the clothes have been folded and put away!

Feb 4, 2010

Leo decided he wanted to help me cook today. We decided to make turkey pot pies (and he made a pumpkin pie). The pot pie was delicious but the pumpkin didn't turn out so hot. I think the pumpkin (we made if from a real pumpkin) was bad.

Feb 5, 2010

Today was the first day of NASCAR, the Bud Shoot Out or something. In my preparation for the Super Bowl tomorrow, I had so many things that I wanted to cook. I wanted to do a total New Orleans theme with Po'Boys and Jambalaya and Martel wanted wings. So, I decided to do wings and potato skins for NASCAR. They were delicious! I made 2 different ones, Tequila Lime Wings (a la Guy Fieri) and traditional Buffalo Hot Wings.

Feb 6, 2010

GEAUX SAINTS! I love football and although I'm not normally a Saints fan (but my little brother has been for over 20 years) I am a Charger fan and I love Drew Brees. I was so sad to see him leave San Diego and was rooting 100% for him and the Saints. Whooee!!!!! Who DAT???

Feb 7, 2010

UR

2010-02-03T04:10:00.000-08:00

I'm totally slacking and a week behind on posting this. This was last weeks challenge from Janna Wilson. It was to build/layer a title for your layout. This is another one of my many pictures that doesn't really tell the story, but is too darn cute not to scrap. I snapped this picture of Aaron when we were at the batting cages, waiting for his turn to bat.

Project Life week 5

2010-02-02T06:01:00.000-08:00

Week 5 already! I can't believe it's already here. Not only that, but I've actually kept up with the Tuesday posts. It probably has something to do with Jessica and her posts about it.
I tell my husband all the time that he's a lucky man to be married to a woman who not only likes football (and baseball) but LOVES it. I taught Aaron to throw his arms in the air and yell TOUCHDOWN!!!!! Pretty dang cute for a 2 year old. (little plug here..... Go Saints!!!!!! I love Drew Brees!)

Jan 24, 2010

I'm notorious for leaving my Christmas tree up until the end of January. This year was no exception.

Jan 25, 2010

The week that Martel was gone, the boys were so good. 4 days and no one in the Naughty Spot. That's over now and for the last 2 days, they both have spent way too much time there. It's getting quite frustrating!

Jan 26, 2010

I have no idea where Leo got this idea but he kept telling Aaron that they had to get ready for the "Talent Show." He arranged the chairs and they sat down like they were waiting for it to start. It was so funny and he was a bit perturbed at me for taking pictures of him. (of course Aaron kept saying Cheese, so I had to take more)

Jan 26, 2010

Aaron just disappeared this afternoon. I went to look for him and he had put himself down for a nap. I love it when he does that.

Jan 28, 2010

The clouds looked amazing over the mountains today. I've seen them cover the tips but had never seen them peeking out from the clouds.

Jan 29, 2010

The Rio Grande looks a bit empty right now. Today we went to yet another park, right on the river. It was a beautiful day and I'm sure that in the Spring when the grass is green and the trees are leafy (is that a word???) and the river is full, the area is amazing. The boys didn't care about how it looked, they just wanted to play.

Jan 30, 2010

Project Life week 4

2010-01-26T06:14:00.000-08:00

I'm done!!! I just can not get Blogger to cooperate today. I mis-uploaded (is that a word??) my Friday picture so I tried to add it in the correct spot. That didn't work. Then I tried to move it. That didn't work. It's too early in the morning for this and the boys are up, bugging me for breakfast. Martel's in bed sick and I'm sure will wake up soon and want something. (We all know what babies men turn into when they're sick). Anyway, you're going to have to deal with an out of order picture. :)

My mom came to visit us the other day. She was at my sister's house in Denver and flew down here for a few days before she was going to fly home to San Diego. My dad decided that he was going to drive out here to Las Cruces and surprise her and drive her home. We spent the better part of 3 weeks planning and he called me from the front door of my apartment to say he was here. I conveniently went to the bathroom as he rang the bell so my mom had to answer the door. He had his camera ready. Sadly, the picture isn't so great because it took her a minute for it to register. She was totally surprised!

Friday 1/22/10

It turns out that we have family here in Las Cruces. I knew there was a bunch up north in Albuquerque and Santa Fe, but was totally surprised when we found out about Raymond and his wife Frances. Raymond is my father in laws first cousin. Today we met them for breakfast and then went over to their house for a while. They were delightful people and hopefully we'll see them again soon. Martel wasn't home so he didn't get to meet them.

Sunday 1/17/20

Martel got home yesterday afternoon and today is a holiday so we took the boys to a park. It's rare when he's able to go with us. We go so much during the week that on the weekends (when it's more crowded) we don't go. But they had fun and got to spend some time with Daddy, who had been gone all week again.

Monday 1/18/10

My mom got here today from visiting (babysitting) my sister and her family. My nephews are 10 and 6 and had sent their reader books down to Leo. He piled them around him and started "reading."

Tuesday 1/19/10

Wouldn't you know it, that big winter storm that passed over most of the entire west coast and moved east came when my mom was here. She lives in balmy San Diego so is a total weather woose. Since it was supposed to be 40 and rainy and windy, we took the boys to the PE class before Leo's preschool class.

Wednesday 1/20/10

Again, the weather was crummy and grandma didn't want to go to the park to play so we went to gymnastics. I can't wait to get a house with a yard so I don't have to constantly take the boys places to run around.

Thursday 1/21/10

(Again, the Friday picture of my mom is at the top of the post.) I had great plans for today. We were going to go to White Sands Monument and sled and then to Alamogordo to the Space History Museum. The weather was the absolute worst of the week so we stayed in. I felt bad that my dad drove 700 miles and we sat around my apartment all day. But he didn't mind. It gave him a chance to play with his grandkids. He hadn't seen them since August.

Saturday 1/23/10

snow play

2010-01-20T03:18:00.000-08:00

Leo decided the other day that he wanted to scrapbook. I always print a few extra pictures of whatever I plan to scrap and give him the unused pictures. He did this one all by himself. (I did hand him the letters for his title in the order they go) Not too shabby for a 4 year old.

Project Life week 3

2010-01-19T04:51:00.000-08:00

So far so good on my Project Life. It's a fun journey and I'm really enjoying it. I've seen some people who have created dedicated blogs to this project and post their pictures on a daily basis. I'd love to do that, but totally think that's too much for me to handle right now. That being said, you all will just get a long post on Tuesdays. :)

Today was Leo's first day of preschool since we moved to Las Cruces. Aaron and I got to the park/Rec Center a little early and ran into friends. My friend said she'd watch Aaron while I went inside to get Leo. As we were coming out of the building, onto the playground, Aaron saw Leo, yelled and ran to him. They were so happy to see each other and gave each other a big hug. (Sadly, I just had my little point and shoot camera so I missed the hug)

Today Leo told me that he wanted to be 3 again so we could live in our other house with Bailey and Orien (our dogs, who had to stay home when we moved). Orien isn't in good health and we don't expect him to be around much longer, and daddy was gone again on another work trip. I decided to take them to the preschool gymnastics time at Gym Magic to get him mind off things.

While Leo was at school today, Aaron and I went to the Farmer's Market to get some produce. Or at least that was the plan. I get that it was a Wednesday in the middle of winter, but there wasn't a single produce vendor around.

For some reason Leo doesn't like me to sing in the car (it really has nothing to do with how bad I am either). He yells that I'm not a princess, so I can't sing. Where he got that I have no idea. Today, I was singing in the car and Aaron yelled "Quaddy!" I'm assuming that's Aaron speak for "Be quiet!"

Aaron has these crazy long eyelashes. Recently he got his top lashes stuck beneath his bottom lid. Yeah, he didn't get them from me.

I'll apologize up front if anyone has this car but seriously, this has to be the ugliest car I've ever seen. And normally I quite enjoy lime green, but this is just plain WRONG.

If any of you notice that you only got 6 pictures this week, it's because I go from Sunday to Saturday and last week I accidently gave you Sunday's picture and I figured you didn't want to see it again.

I've really enjoyed seeing other peoples pictures, keep them coming!

Snow Family

2010-01-19T03:14:00.000-08:00

The last time it snowed we went to the park to play and someone had already built 2 snowmen. Leo decided that he needed to build his own snowman. He started one and that turned into 3. So we had a grandma Jo, an Aaron and a Leo.

Did he come?

2010-01-18T03:09:00.000-08:00

On Christmas Eve, we made sure to put cookies out for Santa and Leo decided to sleep on the couch and wait for him. The first thing out of his mouth Christmas morning was, "Mom! Santa didn't come!" He was very upset so I told him to check the container of cookies we left out. They were gone and Leo was very confused about that. He finally decided that Santa did come.
Sadly, I didn't have a cute little chipboard Santa and cookies, so I settled for a bear and cocoa. :)

Santa Leo

2010-01-17T03:07:00.000-08:00

Leo was so funny on Christmas Eve. He would take whatever items he could find around the apartment, cars, socks even the TV remote, and put them in a box and wrap them up. He loved giving us presents.

King of the Sand Hill

2010-01-16T01:48:00.000-08:00

One of the greatest things about living in Las Cruces is that White Sands National Monument is only an hour away. There are these magnificent sand dunes and the boys LOVE to sled down them. All the fun of sledding on snow, but not the cold. Someone had made a little jump on one of the dunes and Leo kept calling it his "super jump." He really didn't catch air, but he had a great time.

Fun Times!

2010-01-15T01:57:00.000-08:00

Like most little boys, mine love to play at the park. Yet another great thing about Las Cruces is there are over 60 parks in the city. We have one for every day of the week. :) This is the "Tues" park and it was a beautiful autumn day. The boys had a great time playing and I love the picture where Leo was trying to climb UP the slide and Aaron extended his hand and was trying to help him. It was so sweet.

Playing at the gym

2010-01-14T01:53:00.000-08:00

There is a Gymnastics Academy in town and on Saturdays they have an open gym time where the kids can play. Daddy was out of town so I took the boys for a special treat. They had so much fun and pretty much dove in. One of Leo's favorite show is Ninja Warrior or "the Trick Show" as he calls it. (Yes, I realize I'm a bad mom for letting him watch that.) When he saw the rope over the foam pit he couldn't get enough of doing tricks. Aaron didn't quite get that you're supposed to hold on and jump, he would just jump right in. I had to drag them out of there but now I can bribe them with going. If they complete their reward charts and are good boys then we get to go.

52 Weeks, week 1

2010-01-13T06:13:00.000-08:00

Janna Wilson is doing a 52 weeks of stress free scrapping over on her blog. I have this pile of pictures that I want to scrap, but since they're not part of the story I'm telling, that go in our family album, they get pushed to the side. I decided to take up her challenge so I could make a dent in that pile.In this layout I pretty much copied Jana's layout then I went back and read the post again and the challenge was to use circles in your layout. Oops. So while I had the lovely Felicity paper pack out (ask me how you can get yours) I decided to do another layout with the circle paper.

Project Life week 1 and 2

2010-01-12T06:30:00.001-08:00

Last year I managed to complete Project 365 (except for one week and I know I took pictures, I just can't find them) where I took a picture every single day and wrote a little about it. It was sort of like a day in the life of the Martinez family. I gave it to Martel for Christmas and he totally loved it. This year Becky Higgins (the creator of Project 365) has another kit out called Project Life. It's pretty much the same concept and this year I actually purchased her kit instead of making my own.

To make things even more fun, and hopefully encourage us to continue through the year (and maybe others to start) Jessica Turner has Project Life Tuesdays on her blog. She's posting her pictures for the week and linking other peoples blogs. I thought it would be fun and maybe I could get some inspiration for some pictures.

I am starting my album at the end of the week as I like to actually start on Jan 1st. So I'm actually posting two pictures of the "1st week" and then week 2.

Jan 1: We went sledding at White Sands National Monument and on the first run, Martel lost his wedding ring. He then spent the next 3 hours on his hands and knees searching for it. We finally had to drag him away because we thought it was a lost cause, he was never going to find it in a 20 foot sand dune. But the effort he showed looking for it was so sweet. I knew I married him for a reason!

Jan 2: As soon as we got home from White Sands, Martel immediately started searching on the internet for metal detectors. He got up first thing Saturday morning and went to Big 5 and bought one. We packed the boys and my mother-in-law back in the car and made the 60 mile drive back to the monument. Martel then spent the next 2 hours with the metal detector searching for his ring. I kept telling him that I thought it probably had rolled down the dune (the sand was wet and very compact). I even made him some search grids so he could go about his quest in a logical manner. When he had 2 grids left, I told him to take a break and I'd look. I finished up the grids and turned around, as I was turning my arm (with the metal detector) swung a bit wide and it started beeping. Sure enough there was his ring not 5 feet from where I had been telling him it was. It had rolled to the bottom and gotten covered by sand. I have never seen him so happy! He knew he married ME for a reason!

Jan 3: My father-in-law was from Santa Fe, NM but moved to San Diego after college at NMSU. Never would we have expected to move to Las Cruces and my mother-in-law came out for the holidays. Martel took her over to NMSU to see where her husband had gone to college. Never in her wildest imagination did she ever expect to walk the same grounds as he had over 30 years ago.

Jan 4: Leo is a very creative little boy. He got these snap blocks for Christmas, the kit makes an airplane and helicopter. He decided that he was going to make a fishing pole instead.

Jan 5: When we moved into the apartment we had to leave our dogs with grandma and the boys miss them so much. We had the opportunity to dog sit for an hour today. The boys had so much fun with Bella.

Jan 6: Auntie Mary got the boys this big box of Arts and Crafts for Christmas. Leo had been bugging me to do some so we finally had an opportunity to make some crafts today. He made a sticker garden and was very proud of it.

Jan 7: We were the first people to live in our building and I decided to leave our assigned parking space for Martel. The covered one with my blue CRV is our assigned one and I "claimed" the one next to it. It's the only spot where we don't have to cross the driveway and with 2 little boys, it's the best spot for me. In the 3 months we've lived here no one has ever parked in "my spot." Today I came home and someone was in it AND as you see, they did a poor park job. All of you who know me know I was watching out the window and as soon as the person left, I moved my car. Yeah, I have issues.

Jan 8: Ahhh, a wonderful cafe au lait! What more needs to be said?

Jan 9: I love nickjr.com! Aaron wants to watch Blue's Clues at 2:00 pm. No problem!

Jan 10: Aaron and I play our own version of Memory. He's only 2 1/2 so we put all the cards face up and then I give him a card and he finds the matching one.

That's the first week in the life of the Martinez family. I'll try and keep the next post shorter. :) If you decide to participate in Project Life and I hope you do, it's a great idea, leave me a message with your blog link. I'd love to see what you come up with.

Snowmen

2010-01-12T01:46:00.000-08:00

I was told that Las Cruces has very mild winters and that it rarely snows. Well, since we've been here (3 months) it's snowed 3 times, all in the month of December. I had just received my January kits from A Page 4 All Seasons and what better timing! We went down the street to the park to play in the snow and Leo insisted on building a snowman.

Unwrap the Magic

2010-01-11T13:42:00.000-08:00

We had company for almost 3 weeks and with the holidays I had to pack away my scrap stuff. I finally found a few minutes this weekend to scrap. And wouldn't you know it, I had the pictures and couldn't find my... for lack of a better word (I really don't like this one) mojo. Thankfully I still had one of my predesigned December layouts from A Page 4 All Seasons. I changed it up a bit, but I got some of Christmas morning scrapped.

New Spring 2010 Idea Book

2010-01-06T06:07:00.000-08:00

Happy 2010 to all! May this year bring you lots of good health and happiness.

Speaking of happiness, the Spring 2010 Idea Book is out and fabulous! Sadly, with the craziness of the holidays I haven't been able to play with my new goodies, but here's a peak at what's new.

Magical

2009-12-21T00:36:00.000-08:00

Last weekend was the Noches de Luminarias at NMSU. I don't know the history behind it but they had thousands of paper bag luminaries lining the walkways of the University. We took a stroll through that night. It seems like a whole heck of a lot of work for one night, but it was amazing. Magical even. Again taking pictures of them in the dark was quite hard. I had the night setting on my camera but no tripod so things would get blurry. If I tried to take a picture with the flash on, you couldn't tell the bags were lit. They looked like, well paper bags everywhere.
This was a layout I was going to use for a club meeting but never did. The big white area is supposed to have an 8 x 10, but none of my pictures were really all that great to go to the expense of printing that size. Later I did go back and mat the 2 pictures on a Creme Brulee mat. That softened it up a lot.

Christmas present for my sister

2009-12-20T00:30:00.000-08:00

One of the things I forgot to bring to Las Cruces was wrapping paper, duh! Anyway, if you know me I'm too cheap to go buy more when I have a ton at home. Oh yeah, I didn't have a box either. So, I got to thinking that I had bought this big Christmas paper pack and thought I could make a box out of paper and cardstock. And if you know me, you know I LOVE two-fers! I even made the bow out of the scraps! My husband was suitably impressed.

I can't tell you what's inside because it's a gift and I don't know if my sister reads my blog. Also, after Christmas I can't show you because I was so excited about the box, I forgot to take a picture of what's inside. I also made cute little gift boxes for my brother in law and nephews but didn't even take pictures of them. Darn it!

Snow Angel

2009-12-19T12:26:00.000-08:00

Snow is rare in Las Cruces so when we got some Leo had to go out and play. I don't know why it was so exciting for him, it snows at "home." I had this A Page 4 All Seasons layout for over a year now and finally decided to use it. I thought it was a funny sight to see snow on a palm tree. I don't think it happens all that often.

Santa!

2009-12-18T00:09:00.000-08:00

The pictures aren't great because I don't have a tripod and night pictures are hard without one and the layout needs something, but here's our visit to see Santa. He came to the Las Cruces Railroad Museum on a diesel engine and there were crafts and the whole neighborhood was lit with paper bag luminaries. We saw Santa come and then left for other festivities around the downtown area. There were just too many people waiting to have their picture taken with Santa so we decided to come back later. The whole time we were gone Leo kept saying that Santa was going to leave and he would miss him. So we finally get back to see him and then Leo would have nothing to do with him. Argh, the frustrations of a 4 year old.

Gingerbread fun

2009-12-17T00:06:00.000-08:00

Leo really wanted to make a Gingerbread house so I got a kit. I had thought about making it all on my own, but got lazy. Aaron had fun eating the icing and candy. Leo just had fun decorating it. The one I got was preassembled and maybe next year I will attempt to make one from scratch.
This is one of the layouts from my December A Page 4 All Seasons kit

National Papercrafting Month

2009-12-16T06:59:00.000-08:00

The exciting National Papercrafting Month Constant Campaign featuring the Felicity Collection starts NOW!

The Felicity Collection features decorative die-cut paper, three gorgeous color schemes, and a D-size stamp set that include flowers, flourishes, argyle, birds, and an entire alphabet! This collection has a retail value of $34.95 US/ $40.95 CAN. You can buy it outright, or get it free! There are two ways to qualify for a FREE Felicity Collection:

Purchase a minimum of $60 US / $70 CAN in full-retail priced stamp sets (A, B, C, D, and E-size). (Excludes Stamp of the Month, Art & Soul®, Workshops on the Go™, and customizable (K) stamp sets.)
Place an order of $125/$145 CAN or more in full-retail priced Close To My Heart products.

Limit of one FREE kit per order. The campaign also has enticing opportunities for hostesses and new Consultants. Hostesses get the package FREE with a Home Gathering sales total of $400 US/ $470 CAN or more, and New Consultants who join Close To My Heart between January 1–31 will receive the package FREE in their New Consultant Kit. Shipping/handling and tax may apply.

Click here to see all the wonderful papers and the stamp set.

Getting in the spirit

2009-12-01T04:27:00.000-08:00

I'm determined to get into the Christmas spirit this year. The first step was to create a few holiday decorations. This is the little entry space in our apartment (it's behind the front door when you open the door)
I went to Hobby Lobby the other day and got a big pack of Christmas paper, a 12 inch styrafoam wreath and the wood letters and trim items. (EVERYTHING was on sale 50% off so total I spent less than $25, whooee!!!!)

For the wreath, I cut out and inked 120 leaves (but I didn't use them all) and just started pinning them around the wreath in a pattern that I liked. I added some of the berries here and there and tied a bow on top.

For the NOEL, I traced the letters on the same papers I used for the leaves, cut them out and then modge podged them on. I sanded and inked the edges. I was going to embellish the letters, but when I put them on the shelf, I stuck some of the extra berries on the shelf and decided that embellishing the letters themself would be overkill.

High Desert Brewing Company

2009-11-30T04:13:00.000-08:00

I did it! I managed one post a day for the entire month. I deserve a prize! Maybe there's some shopping in my future. :)

We're lucky enough to have a Brew Pub, with fairly decent food, right here in Las Cruces. We actually took the boys one day for lunch, but it's not the most kid friendly place we've gone, but we managed.

Blue Corn Cafe

2009-11-29T04:08:00.000-08:00

As I said yesterday, we love Brew Pubs. We had had a very long day. We woke up in Carlsbad, went to the Caverns, checked out of our hotel, went to Roswell and then drove up to Santa Fe (all in about 10 hours). Martel wanted to go to the Santa Fe Brewing Co, but we approached from a different direction and couldn't find it. As we were wandering around trying to find it, I spotted the Blue Corn Cafe and Brewery. Being exhausted we went inside. It was wonderful. The food was great and the beers were very good.

Mudshark's Brewery

2009-11-28T04:00:00.000-08:00

We love Brew Pubs. I mean really love Brew Pubs. One of the first things I do when we go someplace new is check and see if there's one around. Mudshark's Brewery in Lake Havasu, AZ was one we just happened upon. We actually had no plans to stop in Lake Havasu, but I committed the ultimate sin and didn't navigate correctly, so we missed the turn off to Bullhead City. We had planned on stopping in Bullhead on the way home to let the boys run around a bit. Boy and I glad we missed it! There was an awesome park (Rotary Park) right on the lake and we found Mudsharks. They had a fantastic BBQ Chicken Pizza, and even though I make a killer one, I like to try other ones to improve mine. I caramelize my onions (yum) but they added fresh cilantro. Oh, I'm soooo doing that next time.

Like the photo collage? I don't have any fancy photo editing software (someday) but as I was uploading my pictures to Walgreens, I saw a collage option. How great is that? I picked the pictures I wanted in the collage and printed it as an 8x10. You can change the size of the borders, the colors of the borders and arrange the pictures how you want them. It was $3.99 but I had a buy one get one coupon. Gotta love that!

Balloon Fiesta take 2

2009-11-27T04:57:00.000-08:00

Here's another layout of the balloon fiesta. Nothing too special and pretty self explanitory.

bring on the sand!

2009-11-26T01:46:00.000-08:00

The apartment complex we're living in here in Las Cruces has a sand volleyball court. Since we didn't get into the complex with the park next door (here we have to drive to one), we go to the sand court with their sand toys and play. They love it, and I love not having to get in the car!

Museum fun

2009-11-25T01:42:00.000-08:00

Ok, so this isn't my favorite layout, but I thought I'd share anyway. This is the... Las Cruces Natural History Museum! Ha, I bet you thought I was going to say the Santa Fe Children's Museum. The Natural History Museum has an exhibit, Air Play about air movement. It's really great and is a travelling exhibit. If it comes to an area near you, you should check it out.

Last one

2009-11-24T01:36:00.000-08:00

This is the last one, I promise! The last one of the Children's Museum that is. My goal (and so far I've actually made it) is to post every day in November.

They had this great table that had huge magnets and all sorts of nuts and washers and you could make all sorts of things.

you 2

2009-11-23T01:27:00.000-08:00

Even though these pictures were taken at the Albuquerque Plaza, they're not going in the New Mexico album. I just loved these pictures so much that I had to make a page to go in my "Mom's favorites" album.

This is my take on the Inspired Blueprints sketch #32

Oh, did you guess Pittsburgh as the most misspelled city? People forget about the "h" at the end.

Old Town Albuquerque

2009-11-22T01:15:00.000-08:00

We had some time to kill between the Albuquerque Balloon Fiesta and lunch at the restaurant that Martel's aunt owns, so we went to the plaza in old Albuquerque. It was so nice just walking around checking out all the hustle and bustle. Martel found a CRX parked on the street so I clandestinely took a picture of it with him and Leo next to it. The Navajo Code Talkers were there signing books, but I couldn't get a good photo.

Here's your trivia for today, what's the most commonly misspelled city in the US??? I'll give you a hint, it's not Albuquerque. The answer tomorrow!

This is another A Page 4 All Seasons layout that I changed up a bit.

Leisure Suit Aaron

2009-11-21T01:09:00.000-08:00

I absolutely LOVE this picture of Aaron. This is how his jammies were when he woke up in the morning. Waaaaaay back is the 80s, my dad used to play this computer game, Leisure Suit Larry. I don't remember a lot except that Larry was a lounge lizzard and the game was entirely inappropriate for kids to know about.

Boys and their toys

2009-11-20T01:06:00.000-08:00

Yet another of the Children's Museum layouts. It's more of a mishmash of photos that I really liked and wanted to scrap.

This is an A Page 4 All Seasons layout

Making Music

2009-11-19T04:59:00.000-08:00

Are you tired of the Santa Fe Children's Museum layouts yet? I'm almost done. :) As I mentioned before, there was just so much to do that I had to separate into many different layouts. I think I could do an entire album of just that day!

In the outside area, they had all these "music instruments." They really aren't but I don't know what else to call them.
This is a Pagemaps sketch but I didn't save it to my computer.

Pumpkins!

2009-11-18T04:41:00.000-08:00

I think this is the last layout from the Mesilla Valley Maze. I have tons more picture, but they're just going in the album in photo protectors. While we were at the maze, we took a tractor ride out to the pumpkin patch. We were getting ready to leave Las Cruces to go on our whirlwind tour of New Mexico, going to be back in Las Cruces for another week and then head home. I was a mean mommy and told Leo that we could go look at them but we weren't going to get one. I was not about to truck a pumpkin 2000 miles around the country. They sure were pretty though

Yet another A Page 4 All Seasons layout.

We only had the back of my car to bring our "personal" item and I wasn't able to bring a lot of scrap stuff this time, so I ordered a bunch of these kits because everything you need for the layouts are included. One must be resourceful if one wants to scrap away from "home."

Sopapillas!

2009-11-17T04:35:00.000-08:00

One of my favorite things to do when we visit Santa Fe is to go to the old Santa Fe plaza and get sopapillas from.... Plaza Cafe. I think they actually have the best sopapillas I've ever eaten. Some times we eat them in the cafe and on days like this one, where the wait was over 30 minutes, we got them to go and walked across the street and actually ate them in the plaza. It was a beautiful day and the plaza was full of activity. There was a guy making balloon animals and had made these great flowers and attached them to the lamp posts.

Here's a little bit of trivia for you. Santa Fe is the oldest state capital in the country. In 2010, it's celebrating it's 400 years and they've already started the festivities.

This is another A Page 3 All Seasons layout.

Balloon Fiesta

2009-11-16T06:26:00.000-08:00

One of the many things that we did on our whirlwind trips was a short detour to the annual Albuquerque Balloon Fiesta. We were in Santa Fe (about an hour away) the night before and foolishly thought that 2 hours would give us enough time to get there for the 7:00 am Mass Ascension. Boy were we wrong! We hit BAD traffic on the freeway (right next to the sign saying Balloon Fiesta 1.25 miles). It took us an hour and a half to get from there the 2 miles to the parking lot. Martel's second biggest pet peeve is sitting in traffic (litter being his first) so that made him a bit grumpy. We actually got to park in the lot right next to the fiesta sight and had an incredible view of the balloons, so we decided not to actually go inside. We really had no idea about the sheer quantity of balloons there, over 500! It was amazing to see them all (or most of them) in the sky at the same time. The fiesta goes on for over a week and there are tons of things going on. Sadly, we only had a little bit of time, but someday I hope to be able to go back and see more.

Oh, and Leo took the pictures of us on the right page.
This is another A Page 4 All Seasons kit

Petrified Forest

2009-11-15T04:48:00.000-08:00

While Leo may be a great car traveller (see yesterday's post) Aaron is not. With him, we have to stop every few hours and let him run around. We stopped at the Petrified Forest National Park, on the way from Las Cruces to Flagstaff. I had never been there before and got another National Park crossed off my list.

This is my take on Inspired Blueprint sketch, #33.

You Rock!

2009-11-14T04:44:00.000-08:00

We have been doing A LOT of car travel lately. Leo is an awsome kid in the car. I seriously think that we could drive straight through from California to New Mexico in one shot with him. He loves to color or just look out the window.